Mark Williams has crowd in stitches as referee left red-faced and commentator says 'behave yourself'
The Welshman is competing in the final of the World Snooker Championship against Zhao Xintong
World Snooker Championship final referee Desislava Bozhilova smiling after Mark Williams played a practical joke on her
(Image: BBC )
Despite Mark Williams being embroiled in the heat of battle at the Crucible Theatre, he rarely misses a chance to show off his jovial side.
The Welsh Potting Machine hadn't been on fire in the first four frames of the World Championship final against Zhao Xintong, going into the mid-session interval trailing 3-1. However, the 50-year-old ensured his spirits were not dampened by the relatively poor start. Indeed, he took an opportunity to play a practical joke on referee Desislava Bozhilova in the first frame back from the mini break.
Finding himself snookered from a colour after potting an opening red, Williams had to play off a cushion in order to drop on a black at the bottom of the pack.
Lining the ball up, Bozhilova asked Williams to nominate which colour he was attempting to hit, to which Williams replied: "Yellow."
Clearly, Williams was not aiming for the yellow, which was almost impossible to hit from where Williams was situated, but Bozhilova announced to the crowd, "Yellow ball."
Williams then shook his head and said, "Black!", as Bozhilova laughed before correcting herself and telling the audience that Williams was indeed going for the black ball.
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Mark Williams was aiming for the black ball off the bottom cushion
(Image: BBC )
Dennis Taylor, the BBC commentator, burst out laughing before saying: "Behave yourself, Mark!"
"That's a typical Mark Williams moment," Taylor added.
"He was asked to nominate a colour and said 'Yellow', when he was always going to play the black."
Fortunately, Bozhilova saw the funny side of it and was shown smiling on the camera seconds later. For the 32-year-old, refereeing the final is a dream come true.
"I am really excited, it was an amazing feeling when I was given the news," she told World Snooker.
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"It is what I have worked towards for many years, it has been my dream. It will be different to any other final because of the atmosphere at the Crucible.
"Since I started working in snooker, I have learned everything from the more experienced referees," she added.
"They give advice and tell us how to improve. There is a lot of teamwork, and we support each other,"
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