World Championship - 'A bit hurtful' - Mark Selby upset by Stuart Bingham 'gamesmanship' comment

ByEurosport

Updated 06/05/2021 at 10:53 GMT

World Snooker Championship 2021 winner Mark Selby told The Break podcast he was disappointed with Stuart Bingham's comments accusing him of "gamesmanship". After Bingham lost to Selby on Saturday he said: "I don't know if it's a bit of gamesmanship or what, but he obviously did a number and slowed me down."

Mark Selby

Image credit: Getty Images

The 2021 world champion Mark Selby tells The Break podcast he found Stuart Bingham's accusations of gamesmanship "a bit hurtful", but he will not lose sleep over the 44-year-old's comment.

The four-time world champion got the better of fellow former Crucible victor Bingham in their five-session semi-final last Saturday with a 17-15 win. Afterwards, Bingham also said he lost some respect for the Jester's style of play. Selby responded and denied deliberately using 'gamesmanship' to frustrate his opponents.

After the 37-year-old secured his fourth world title in seven years, Selby told Andy Goldstein on the podcast he was "a bit disappointed" by Bingham's comments.

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"I was a bit disappointed with Stu," he said. "I feel I get on well with him and he dug me out saying 'it is gamesmanship' and that he lost a bit of respect for me by the way I was doing it.

I never go into a match to put somebody off. That's just not in my nature. I just go out there and try my hardest. I was a little bit disappointed with Stuart saying that, but then at the same time you've got to imagine he must've been gutted himself. He's just got off the table and then you get a microphone shoved straight in your face.

Bingham frustrated with Selby 'gamesmanship' in Crucible semi-final

Selby admits he was "taken aback" by Bingham's criticism as he claims he offered Bingham words of support when the Ball-run was banned from the sport for six months in 2017 for betting on matches.

However, Selby says he would still talk to him despite their disagreement.

"I'd never ignore him. I'm not going to ignore anyone," he added.

"I'd still might say 'hello' next time I see him but I was a bit taken aback. A few years ago he got banned for six or seven months which I thought was quite harsh, but I was one of the few people who even texted him saying 'hope you're ok mate, keep your chin up, you'll come back stronger'.

For him to mention that [the gamesmanship] in the interview was a little bit hurtful. That's life at the end of the day and I'm not going to lose too much sleep over it.

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