A SNOOKER star SLAPPED the back ball to end a frame at the International Championship.
Stephen Maguire was taking on Xu Si when he had clearly become frustrated with his performance in the ninth frame.
The Scottish cueman, 44, was trailing the Chinese ace in the frame 63-43 as he looked to wrap up the round one match.
Si had played some important shots to build up his lead before missing on the blue.
Maguire and his rival both missed a couple of shots on the blue to take the scoring any further.
One attempt left Maguire fuming as the blue cannoned into the white and sent it into the middle pocket.
But before the cueball even dropped, Maguire decided to throw in the towel and furiously SLAPPED the black ball to end the frame.
He showed no remorse after his actions as he walked off and took a seat next to the table.
Maguire could then be seen calming down and giving his cue a wipe with a flannel from his table.
The concession of the frame took the scores to 5-4 with Maguire still requiring one more to win the match.
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A nail-biting tenth frame saw Maguire finally break clear and win the match despite his earlier frustration.
Elsewhere, John Higgins trumped Oliver Lines 6-2 and spoke about how pleased he is with his level of performance at the moment.
He said: “Ollie has had some great results this year. He beat Judd in Saudi and beat Mark Allen in Xi’an.
“They are two of the best players, so I’m sure I didn’t hold a lot of fear for him.
“But he didn’t play well at all today. He really struggled and I just picked up the pieces.
“As you get older it affects you a bit more. It is the same old grind. You are going to have difficult moments getting motivated.
“That is understandable. When you are actually out there you are trying so hard to win. My game is at a decent level, which is good.”
Kyren Wilson also avoided a potential banana skin as he came out on top against David Lilley.
