Neil Robertson has vowed to support the rescue effort of the Australian bushfires disaster by donating money every time there is a century break in the Masters.

The Masters, one of snooker’s biggest events in the calendar, gets underway on Sunday with the world’s elite players taking part in a bid to be crowned Masters champion and win a cheque for £250,000.

However, tragedy has occurred on the other side of the world.

Over the past few weeks, 27 people have died in Australia as fires in woodland areas have spiralled out of control. Deadly forest fires have raged for weeks and destroyed almost 2,000 homes. The fires have caused an estimated 1 billion animals to be lost.

Neil Robertson. Picture by Monique Limbos

Experts say the fires, mainly stemming from record hot temperatures in parts of the country, could continue in the coming days at least with hundreds of thousands of people being forced to evacuate.

Robertson, Australia’s first and only world snooker champion, has revealed how he has been left “heartbroken” by the tragedy and has vowed to do his bit to support victims and wildlife.

He tweeted that he would donate £100 for each century break made in the Masters by any player on top of a personal donation of £5,000 to wildlife rescue charity Wires.

Robertson tweeted: “Heart broken with all the bush fires back home. So during the masters next week I’ll be donating £100 per century made by ALL players as well as donating £5000 on top to @WIRES_NSW would be awesome to get other players to chip in😃 @judd147t @markjesterselby @BarryHearn @Dafabet.”

To make a donation to Wires visit their website here.