Fuming Stuart Bingham blasted his “kryptonite” after exiting the UK Championship.
The 25th seed joined Scot John Higgins in crashing out of the competition at the second round stage, losing China’s Zhang Anda – despite being 5-1 to the good at once stage in the match. And he was left seething with a photographer at York’s Barbican after missing the 14th black for a maximum 147. Bingham could be seen glaring and muttering towards the crowd after the error, banging his cue on the way back to his seat after pointing it in the direction of the spectators.
And afterwards the former World Championship winner fumed: “It was a photographer. He ran in just before I was taking that shot. Photographers just seem to be my kryptonite.” Bingham was 3-1 to the good at the time, and would go on to take two further frames – before a collapse that saw Anda set up a quarter-final meeting with world number one Judd Trump, who defeated Wishaw‘s Higgins in a four hour epic.
Delighted opponent Anda meanwhile said: “It was a very tough game and for the first session I did nothing wrong. Just some safety play which was bad and Stuart took his chances. At 5-1 down I tried everything to win. I tried everything to not let the pressure beat me.” Asked about Bingham’s 147 that was interrupted by the photographer, he added: “I was feeling nervous. But I feel a little bit disappointed for him.”
It marked the end of a frustrating tournament for Bingham, who saw a break labelled “the worst ever” by fans when he managed to pot the black in his first round comeback victory against Mark Williams. Commentator Alan McManus, covering the tie for Eurosport, expressed his disbelief when he saw the black ball pocketed right from the break, saying: “You think you’ve seen it all. I’ve never seen that before, ever. Potting the black off the break. That is incredible.”