Liang knocks Swail out of World Championship

Northern Ireland's Joe Swail is out of the World Snooker Championship after a final frame thriller against Liang Wenbo last night.

Swail fought back from a 12-8 deficit to tie the match on 12-12 before Liang clinched victory in contentious circumstances.

The 21-year-old Chinese star was 27 points ahead with 27 remaining when he failed to get out of an apparent snooker by hitting the cushion first.

Swail had the white replaced and Liang proceeded to hit the target ball directly, prompting claims from the Irishman that the referee had failed to replace the white in the correct position.

Liang will now go on to play Ronnie O'Sullivan for a place in the semi-finals.

Elsewhere, Joe Perry also booked the last quarter-final place last night with a 13-9 win over Stuart Bingham.