Hossein Vafaei let rip at the iconic Crucible Theatre - claiming it stinks and needs a lick of paint.
Potting star Judd Trump kicked off his bid for a second World Championship with a convincing 10-5 victory over the Iranian potter. The Crucible has staged snooker’s biggest event since way back in 1977.
But fiery world No.19 Vafaei - who recently dumped Ronnie O'Sullivan out of the World Open - slammed: “History is very important but when nobody invests any money in this historical venue, let’s forget the history – you want to go somewhere really nice as a player.
"You walk everywhere around the Crucible and it smells really bad. As a player I’m honest, it’s just really bad. Everything’s so bad.
“You go to other venues in other countries and you see how nice they treat you. How nice everything is. Everything is shiny.
“But here it’s completely different. If you ask me do I want to come back here again, I tell you no way. The practice room, do you see anything special? I feel like I’m practicing in a garage. That’s not good.”
After reaching the last 16 for a 12th time Trump said: “It’s difficult to dislike the place. It’s special to win it here. Any player who doesn’t win it here will have that regret.”
A WST statement read: “The Crucible is a historic venue and there are limitations given the size of the backstage areas. We work with the Crucible to make it as welcoming as possible for players.”
This month O'Sullivan, who has won the competition seven times, called on snooker chiefs to move the World Championships away from the Crucible in favour of the Middle East. “I don’t like the Crucible. I don’t think you can get in and out of it," O'Sullivan told The Sun.
“Definitely it’s a wise decision to take it away from Sheffield. Still have a tournament there. Why not? But just not the World Championship over 17 days.
“It’s a massive circus and you need a massive space to accommodate it. Saudi Arabia would be great. They’ve got the resources and would do it great.
“If you’re going to take it to China, you’d have to take it to Shanghai. Or another major city like Shenzhen or Guangzhou. It’d be done properly. Courtesy cars will be laid on. Food will be there. Hotels will be great. Everything would be paid for. Prize money would be astronomical."
Meanwhile, Zhang Anda was the second seed to bow out, after Luca Brecel became the 19th victim of the Crucible Curse on the opening night, as he was stunned 10-4 by Jak Jones. No first-time champion has ever retained the title and that historic hoodoo continued when Brecel lost 10-9 to spirited Gilbert.
Mark Selby has a mountain to climb when he resumes 7-2 behind to Joe O’Connor today, whilst Shaun Murphy leads Lyu Haotian 6-3 overnight.