Snooker player Jack Lisowski has been blocked from showing his support for Ukraine at the World Championships.
Lisowski, 30, is preparing to face Australian Neil Robertson at The Crucible on Saturday. His clash with the third seed is gearing up to be one of the ties of the second round.
The world No 14 opened up his tournament with a win over Welshman Matthew Stevens. In a nail-biting match against the former finalist, the English player came through 10-8 to progress past round one in Sheffield for just the third time in his career.
However, whilst the result went to plan for Lisowski, he was forbidden from wearing his choses attire.
The player nicknamed 'Jackpot' had requested to wear a Ukrainian flag patch on his waistcoat, only to be thwarted by World Snooker Tour bosses.
Lisowski's grandad is from Ukraine, something he acknowledged when he wore the the patch during his run to the semi-finals at the Welsh Open in March. The tournament began less than a week after Russia began their harrowing invasion.
Following his win over Stevens, Lisowski explained he was told he couldn't make the gesture as he wasn't from Ukraine himself: “They won’t let me wear the logo at this tournament," he said.
“I tried to wear it and they said: 'You can’t wear it unless you are Ukrainian.' I have some Ukrainian in me. But that wasn’t enough. I got my badge taken off my waistcoat."
Lisowski, who has reached six ranking finals in his career, seemed all the more bemused by dint of the fact he'd already been permitted to sport the flag in other events: “I’ve played two or three tournaments with it on. It was stitched on. I want to wear it. But I’m not allowed. I don’t know why.
"It doesn’t make sense to me. I’m trying to reverse it. Everyone in this room would be in agreement and in support of Ukraine. Why the hell can’t I wear it? I have Ukrainian family. My grandad was Ukrainian. My dad has been out there."
He added he would liked to have gone to the country himself, but is now unable to do so with the situation too unsafe: “It is something that is close to my heart and obviously it is very, very sad what is going on. It is a tragedy. It is terrible.”
Lisowski has however, pledged to acquire a full-size flag, even messaging fellow tour player Iulian Boiko [from Ukraine] to try and get one: “If I beat Robertson, I will be getting a flag out and waving it around.”
The World Snooker Tour have released a statement on the matter, insisting they were just adhering to policy: "As an international sport we have always adopted a policy of political neutrality. To that end, our policy is to not allow our sport to be used as a political platform at the World Championship."
