Open organisers confident protest disruption will be prevented

Open organisers admit it will be "challenging" to prevent protesters disrupting this year's championship at Royal Liverpool but have expressed confidence in their "robust" security arrangements.

A man wearing a 'Just Stop Oil' T-shirt interrupted the World Snooker Championship match between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry on Monday evening by jumping on to one of the tables and tipping orange powder over the cloth.

A woman was prevented from executing a similar stunt on the other table after being tackled by referee Olivier Marteel.

A 25-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and subsequently bailed by South Yorkshire Police until 15 June.

It was the second time in three days that a major domestic sporting event in the UK had been disrupted after 118 people were arrested at Aintree on Saturday as they tried to scale the perimeter fence at the Grand National.

Mike Woodcock, director of corporate communications for the R&A, said: "Every year security is a big priority for us. Every year we are looking to see what the situation is and assess the potential issues.

"It's certainly challenging but we have dealt with protests before. It's not new. We are tapped into all of the intelligence. We will do everything we can to try to prevent it.

"We are planning for this year's championship and if there are any situations we need to adapt to, we will.

"We are pretty confident the arrangements we have are robust. It's all about the agencies we work with and the advice and guidance that we're getting and I think we're getting the best possible advice."

Championships director Rhodri Price said the R&A would continue to engage with protest groups ahead of the 151st Open from 20-23 July, which is set to