NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Hossein Vafaei has been struggling to keep his mind on snooker while unrest and protests continue in Iran, saying: ‘Knowing what is going on in my head, I don’t know how I’m playing.’
Dissent has been raging in Iran for nearly two months as citizens protest against decades of hardline clerical rule, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, who had been detained for wearing her headdress ‘inappropriately’.
Hundreds of people have died during the weeks of demonstrations and thousands more have been detained, with fears that a large number of executions will follow as punishment.
Vafaei has been trying to focus on snooker and will be doing so when he plays Mark Selby at the UK Championship on Tuesday, but admits it has been very hard to do so while he feels torn on how to react to the situation in Iran.