Ronnie O’Sullivan’s bitter rival Ali Carter launches stinging attack on World Masters snooker chiefs after scoring gaffe

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN’S bitter rival Ali Carter unleashed a vicious attack on Saudi officials after losing in the first round of a controversial new event.

The 44-year-old suffered defeat in the inaugural Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker to Luca Brecel in the first round.

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Ali Carter was fuming after his defeat at the Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker[/caption]

The Englishman was knocked out due to a 4-1 loss at the hands of the 2023 world champion.

Carter previously became embroiled in a bitter feud with the legendary O’Sullivan.

But even though semi-finalist The Rocket was nowhere near him yesterday, he still found himself getting totally riled up.

The world No.8 was left fuming at the slow-moving scoreboard inside the Global Theatre during the fourth frame.

Carter was spotted continually looking up at the scoreboard to check before he then missed a simple pot on the brown.

However, despite going on to be well beaten, the spiky star decided to bring it up during his angry post-match interview.

He told EuroSport: “I’m clearing up, I want to get on with it and the scorer’s got the score wrong.

“I’ve stunned [the blue] up the table, thinking I can play anything I want. I look at the scoreboard and now all of a sudden I’m thinking ‘Have I miscalculated?’ and it has just completely put me out [of] my rhythm.

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“I thought I’ve got to pot the brown to be able to draw. I don’t know how it worked out but I’m looking at the blue and then all of a sudden the ref said I’m on 41 and I’m 22 behind or something, I don’t know.

“It just completely threw me. I wasn’t on the yellow right, I wasn’t on the green right. The brown…It was just so frustrating. Poor, very poor.”

Carter started his opening game at the event, which has hit the headlines for the introduction of the Golden Ball, in a bad mood.

He was annoyed at the long wait, which ended up being a two hour delay, caused by a thrilling end to Mark Selby’s 4-3 defeat to Mark Allen.

Carter said: “I got here and I’m four hours waiting to play.

“Coming a long way and you have to deal with that. It’s a great event and it’s very raw at the minute.

“It’s such a big opportunity for someone to win such a great event. For everything to go wrong today, right from the off is very frustrating.”