A top snooker referee is barred from taking charge of one player’s matches at the UK Championship – because she is married to him. Belarus-born Tatiana Woollaston, 38, will be one of the officials on duty at the first Triple Crown event of the season, which begins on Saturday.

Another Woollaston will also be involved at the York Barbican, her husband Ben, who booked his place in the 32-player showpiece by coming through qualifying earlier this week. He is now looking forward to a first-round clash with three-time UK champion John Higgins on Saturday night. However, there is no chance of Tatiana taking charge of the match. She told the Mirror ahead of last year’s UK Championship that they try to keep their respective snooker careers as separate as possible.

She said: “He’s on the circuit as a player, I’m on the circuit as a referee. We’ve never really mix that. I’m obviously not allowed to referee his games and I wouldn’t want to, to be fair.”

However, there are no other restrictions on Tatiana’s Crucible duties while Ben is involved in the tournament. With the two-table set-up in play until the semi-final stage, she could conceivably referee while Ben is playing, although she is unlikely to be put in that position. 

Tatiana is also free to take charge of matches in her husband’s half of the draw. She had the honour of taking charge of last year’s UK final between Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins.

Ben, the world number 37, arrived in York on a high after a dramatic final qualifying round victory over fellow Leicester potter Joe O’Connor, coming from 4-1 down to win 6-5. After a 67-minute final frame, which finished after midnight, Ben said: “That was probably the craziest match I have ever been involved in.

“I played really well from 4-1 down but it felt everything was going against me. Then Joe had me in a lot of trouble when he needed snookers at the end. I have lost a lot of deciders this season so it’s nice to win one like that.”

World number one Trump begins the defence of his title against Stephen Maguire on Saturday afternoon. World champion Zhao Xintong, the 2021 UK champion, begins his campaign against fellow Chinese star Long Zehuang on Monday. Eight-time champion Ronnie O’Sullivan plays Zhou Yuelong on Tuesday.