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Snooker ace Hossein Vafaei was surprisingly punished for an unlikely foul at last year's Northern Ireland Open. The competition returned to Belfast this month, with the final scheduled for Sunday. The showpiece match at Waterfront Hall will attract plenty of attention, though both finalists must remain aware of the rule that Vafaei fell foul of during his last-64 clash with Jimmy White a year ago. Vafaei ultimately suffered a 4-2 defeat to White last year, yet the encounter was perhaps most memorable for referee Kevin Dabrowski's controversial call in the last frame. He declared that Vafaei had positioned the white ball marginally outside the D and awarded a free ball, to the surprise of many in the venue. Vafaei challenged the official's ruling and maintained he had placed the cue ball on the yellow spot. Nevertheless, Dabrowski remained confident in his judgement. White asked whether a replay of his rival's shot could be used to resolve the bizarre situation. The referee promptly declared he was "absolutely certain" of his decision. Vafaei, who thought he had just sunk a red ball, asked: "Can you check?" Following his explanation to both players, there was a pause in proceedings before Dabrowski took Vafaei to a TV camera to examine the replays. Despite being shown a freeze-frame of the incident, Vafaei insisted that the ball had been on the yellow spot. However, Dabrowski stood by his ruling. "It's not Hossein," he said. "You can see on the video it's outside of the D. I'm 100 per cent sure." The commentators' response summed up the unexpected situation. Former snooker player Neal Foulds said on TNT Sports : "I've never seen that before." After viewing the replay, Foulds continued: "Well, we're seeing it. I can't tell. It's got to be over the line I suppose, rather than on the line. "It looked like it might have been in. But I'm not going to say either way. I don't think it's very obvious, one way or another." White proceeded to secure the frame and clinch the match, though he lost to Martin O'Donnell in the subsequent round . The 2024 Northern Ireland Open was ultimately claimed by Kyren Wilson , who triumphed 9-3 over Judd Trump to pocket the £100,000 prize. This year, White crashed out 4-2 to Huang Jihao in the first qualifying round. Vafaei suffered another early exit at the round of 64 stage, falling by the same margin to Ben Woollaston.
