Snooker: Mark Allen in 'ignorant' China Twitter outburst

Mark Allen has been in trouble before (GETTY IMAGES)

Mark Allen could find himself in trouble with snooker authorities again after a series of Twitter outbursts about China.

Allen, no stranger to controversy having clashed with World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn and been fined for swearing in a press conference, is in Beijing for the Haikou China Open.

He tweeted: "This place is horrendous! Dead cat found this morning. Any wonder this place stinks! Must be dead cats all round the town!!"

The Daily Mirror reports he then wrote: "Journey a nightmare. People are ignorant. Place stinks. Arena's rubbish, tables poor, food is horrendous. Other than that I love China."

That tweet was later removed, and replaced with one saying: "Might've been a bit harsh a few hours ago in my tweet. Not all Chinese people are ignorant. I stand by everything else though."

WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson described the comments as "extremely disappointing" and said his organisation would take a look at them.

He told the Daily Mirror: "Mark Allen's comments are extremely disappointing considering that China is a great friend of our sport.

"There has been a massive effort from China to support our players and I am sure this is an isolated view from one player.

"Our players must understand that their views expressed in the public arena can have a catastrophic effect on the game's development.

"These comments will now be reviewed by the WPBSA disciplinary committee."

Allen later tweeted again, saying: "From now on I will be a robot with no opinions or feelings. Hope that keeps everyone off my back for a while. Peace out!!!"

PA