Remember this strange video of Ding apparently potting two reds the other day and all the speculation as to whether it was real or fake? Well now we know for sure…
After all the theories and rumours about how it could have been edited, Snooker Scene’s Dave Hendon has confirmed on his latest blog article here that the clip is 100% genuine and that yes, this did actually happen.
It is certainly a remarkable incident, but as Dave says everyone makes mistakes and luckily in this case, it did not affect the eventual outcome too much as of course Stephen Maguire went on to take the match. Then again those with money on Maguire to take that frame might disagree.
The last time that I can remember anything vaguely like this was in a match between Stephen Hendry and Barry Hawkins a few years ago when Hawkins fouled the pink, but Hendry was only awarded four points instead of six. This eventually meant that the frame went to a re-spot which Hendry lost, and it eventually proved to be the turning point in the match. I seem to remember the referee in this case being Jan Verhaas so it shows that it can happen to the best.
At least for Colin Humphries this video did not come to light until after the tournament because he would have been under greater pressure in the final had all eyes been on him waiting for the slightest mistake. Hopefully this will not affect his career too much in the future and that he will continue to be considered for finals.