Snooker fans were left shocked after a bizarre penalty was dished out to Chinese player Ding Junhui following a never-seen-before incident at the Saudi Arabia Masters.

Ding was facing Britain’s Stuart Bingham for a place in the last-16 on Tuesday when he was penalised for a controversial ruling in the deciding frame of the match.

The Chinese snooker star was leading in the final frame when he suffered a technical failure that resulted in Bingham being given a golden opportunity to win the contest.

Ding went to take a shot when trying to pot the black and was left confused when the top of his cue snapped off and hit a red ball that was quickly penalised by the match referee.

Referee Olivier Marteel called a foul for the infringement and told Ding to retreat back to the players area to fix his cue and was questioned by his decision when the former world No.1 re-emerged.

Snooker fans were left shocked after a bizarre penalty was dished out to Chinese player Ding Junhui

Ding was taking on Stuart Bingham (pictured) for a chance to feature in the last-16

Explaining his decision, Marteel stated: ‘The tip hit another ball after hitting this ball. 

‘It hit a red. It just jumped on the bed of the table and then on to a red, so it’s a foul.

‘Yes, I’m sure that your tip hit the red. Junhui, I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true.’

Bingham went on to claim an unusual victory with a break of 63 and later commented on the decision to penalise Ding for the strange infringement.

The tip of Ding’s cue snapped off and struck a red ball when he took a shot at black

Posting on Instagram, he said: ‘Not sure if everyone watched, but something happened that’s never happened to me before and I don’t know if it’s ever happened to anyone else before.

‘He’s on a break of 32, he went into the pack off the black but unfortunately his tip came off and as it came off onto the table, it hit a red ball which meant it was a foul.

‘Obviously he had to go to the office to get his tip back on, the referee Olivier Marteel did say to him it was a foul.

‘Luckily for me, I held my nerve and dished up in the decider to win 5-4. I thought I’d just let everyone know what happened. Ballrun Bingham strikes again.’