Snooker Star Docked Frame After Breaking Major Rule at British Open

Snooker's British Open is in full swing at the Centaur in Cheltenham but one competitor started his second round match at a disadvantage.

Brummie snooker professional Mitchell Mann was docked a frame before getting on the baize for the Thursday morning session against China's Gao Yang.

The second round is the first to be played on the main stage at the British Open, with its 64 players reaching the ranking event via a qualifying round played in Leicester in June or, for the highest-ranked players, in Cheltenham early this week.

Defending champion Mark Selby holds a commanding first-session lead over Liu Hongyu but Mann's match was a much tighter affair in the Centaur's four-table set-up.

The 33-year-old overcame his one-frame disadvantage to beat Yang 4-3 and set up a third round tie against Poland's Antoni Kowalski, which will be played in the Thursday evening session.

Mitchell Mann (Image: Visual China Group via Getty Images)

Mann will be making sure he doesn't start that a frame behind, having lost that first frame against Yang because he arrived late at the Centaur on Thursday morning because his car broke down.

Yang won the first frame proper but the Englishman came back to win four of the subsequent five frames and book his place in the last 32.

Many of the leading lights of snooker are waiting in the third round with £100,000 in prize money up for grabs.

John Higgins, Mark Williams and Neil Robertson are among the players who already have their spot secured, with Higgins preparing to take on World Snooker Championship winner Zhao Xintong.

World number one Judd Trump leads his match against Ireland's Leone Crowley.

World snooker number one Judd Trump (Image: Getty)

There have already been second-round exits for the likes of Jack Lisowski, Stuart Bingham and Kyren Wilson, who was defeated by 19-year-old Stan Moody.

Seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan withdrew before his qualifier, which was set to be played in Cheltenham at the start of this week.

Which of snooker's greats have won the British Open?

The British Open was won in its previous incarnations by Alex Higgins, Steve Davis and Ray Reardon, but the first ranking tournament was won by South Africa's Silvino Francisco in 1985.

Davis, Jimmy White and Stephen Hendry won the next three tournaments in Derby and all three won it again before O'Sullivan's first British Open title in 1994.

John Higgins, Williams and Peter Ebdon are all among the previous winners.