4 years ago
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| Venue: Crucible Theatre, Sheffield Dates: 31 July-16 August |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four and Red Button, with uninterrupted coverage on BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app. Full details and times. |
Former champion John Higgins made the first 147 maximum break at the World Championship since 2012.
Higgins, 45, bumped elbows with opponent Kurt Maflin to celebrate what was his 10th career maximum break but his first at the Crucible.
It was the 11th 147 at the World Championship and the first since fellow Scot Stephen Hendry made the last of his three Crucible maximums.
The break came in the 12th frame of Higgins' second-round match.
With no crowd in the Crucible Theatre because of the coronavirus pandemic, there was no standing ovation or cheering to mark the achievement, although there was the applause of the 'fake crowd' noise.
Higgins himself hardly celebrated as he walked off for the mid-session interval trailing the Norwegian 7-5.
The clearance puts the four-time world champion in line for a £40,000 bonus for the maximum, as well as the £15,000 highest break prize.
"That was incredible," said BBC TV analyst Joe Perry. "There was nothing else to put on his CV apart from the Crucible 147 and now he's done it.
"Crowd or no crowd, making a 147 is special because you have to be perfect on every shot."
Watch live coverage from the CrucibleHow much do you know about Crucible 147s?Higgins predicted there would be a 147 before the championship and stated that this year's tournament could be the best ever in terms of standard.
The fifth seed continued to fight back after the interval and levelled the match at 8-8 at the end of the session.
The best-of-25 match plays to a finish at 19:00 BST on Thursday.
On the other table, Thailand's Noppon Saengkham opened up a surprise 5-3 lead over three-time champion Mark Selby.
'The biggest buzz as a snooker player'
Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry on BBC Two:
"Obviously it's a little bit surreal with no crowd there because when there are two or three reds left, they tend to clap every single shot, they know what is going on and the atmosphere just builds.
"It is the biggest buzz you can have as a snooker player. Winning the World Championship is amazing, it is the culmination of 17 days of hard work but a 147 is just special.
"It is such a rare thing to happen at the Crucible it is such a thrill to make one there."
Maximums at the World Championship
Higgins joins six other in making a 147 break on the biggest stage of all:
Canada's Cliff Thorburn was the first player to do it in 1983Jimmy White made the second 147 in 1992Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan have both made three 147sO'Sullivan's first 147 in 1997 took just five minutes and eight secondsMark Williams and Ali Carter are the other players to have achieved itO'Sullivan and Carter both made 147s in 2008 - the only time two have been made in the same championshipAll 10 previous World Championship 147sFull tournament schedule and resultsBBC coverage times and channelsSign up to My Sport to follow snooker news on the BBC app.
