Judd Trump is likely to be punished by snooker’s governing body after he deliberately smashed the balls up to concede early in his Northern Ireland Open match against Stuart Carrington.

Judd Trump. Picture by Monique Limbos

The world number two showed his frustration when he hit the remaining reds all over the table after he had missed a crucial pot in the sixth frame of his first round clash.

At the time Trump was only 52 points behind and mathematically still could have won the frame – something that is against the rules of snooker.

But after his actions, he then shaked Carrington’s hand and the referee’s before leaving the arena.

It means Trump is in breach of the Section 4 rule: “A player shall not concede a frame in any match unless snookers are required. Any breach of this rule shall be regarded as ungentlemanly conduct or misconduct by the player concerned.”

As reported on The Old Green Baize, Trump’s preparations for the tournament were not ideal after his cue was misplaced on his flight back home from the Shanghai Masters where he reached the final.

He revealed on Twitter on Monday that he was a doubt for the tournament because of the bizarre situation.

But it appears Trump did get his cue back on time but a poor performance saw him lose 4-2 to the world number 52.

Trump becomes the third big star to exit the Northern Ireland Open following recent Champion of Champions winner Shaun Murphy who lost 4-1 to China’s Chen Zifan and Kyren Wilson who lost to Newcastle’s Sam Craigie by the same scoreline.

Elsewhere today, Shanghai Masters semi-finalist Jack Lisowski continued his good form thrashing Sean O’Sullivan 4-0 within an hour while there were also whitewash wins for four-times ranking event winner Ali Carter and 17-year-old Yan Bingtao who weeks ago thrashed Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-1 in the International Championship.