British snooker star Peter Lines, 51, offered a Chinese opponent outside for ‘a FIGHT in front of a referee’ after losing a match to him in Leicester last week – and now faces an investigation
- A British snooker star allegedly offered his opponent a fight after losing to him
- Peter Lines was accused of abusing China’s Xiao Guodong using swear words
- Lines, 51, lost 4-3 to Xiao in a qualifier for next month’s Northern Ireland Open
- The Leeds-born player is also on the board of snooker’s world governing body
British snooker player Peter Lines is under investigation from the sport’s world governing body after challenging his Chinese opponent to a fight after losing his Northern Ireland Open qualifier.
The 51-year-old English professional player lost 4-3 to Xiao Guodong on Thursday in the qualifying match for next month’s tournament and allegedly asked his rival, 32, to step outside for ‘a fight in front of a referee’ after the loss in Leicester.
The allegations made against Lines, who is part of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) board through a playing director role he has held since 2019, were made by a letter from Xiao’s team to the World Snooker Tour (WST).
The letter has since been shared by Xiao on his Sina Weibo page, one of China’s most popular social media websites, with world No 32 captioning the post: ‘I do not make trouble but also am not afraid of any trouble.’
The letter read: ‘Xiao brought us to the attention that Peter was using swear words and was also threatening Xiao to step outside the arena for a fight in front of the referee, which is not acceptable and quite intimidating for a player who is coming from a different country.
British snooker players Peter Lines allegedly asked his Chinese rival to fight him after a loss
Lines lost to China’s Xiao Guodong and allegedly wanted to ‘fight him in front of a referee’
‘In fact it was the security guy that stopped Peter from doing worse.’
The letter added that several other snooker players witnessed the abuse, with Wu Yize, Pang Junxu and Elliot Slessor all named as observers of the alleged incident.
The WST announced in a statement: ‘WST has received a formal complaint from Xiao Guodong regarding the conduct of his opponent Peter Lines following their match in the Northern Ireland Open qualifiers.
Lines, 51, is a board member of the world snooker governing body and is under investigation
‘A thorough investigation is now underway and the matter is being treated as serious. Neither WST or the WPBSA will make any further comment until the issue is resolved.’
Lines has been a professional snooker player for 30 years and is currently ranked as No 95 in the world. He has only ever reached one semi-final at a ranking tournament in his career – at the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic – and has earned £424,224 in career earnings.
The Leeds-born competitor was appointed as a ‘Player Director’ at the WPBSA as, according to the governing board’s website, ‘he is continually striving to improve the player experience’.
Lines is ranked at No 95 in the world has been a competing professionally for 30 years
His profile description adds he has a ‘continued enthusiasm for the game’ and is popular on the snooker circuit.
Lines’ son, Oliver, is also a professional snooker player and is actually ranked higher than his father. The 26-year-old is the world No 69 but has only ever reached the last-16 in ranking events.
Xiao, who is nicknamed ‘Little Kelly’ on the circuit, reached the finals of the 2013 Shanghai Masters and the 2017 Shoot Out and is a two-time gold medal winner at the Asian Indoor Games.