A referee is banned from officiating in one player's matches at the tournament - because she is married to him. Tatiana Woollaston, one of the top officials in the game, made her Crucible debut at the Covid-affected 2020 tournament.

At the 2024 World Championship, the Belarusian, 38, oversaw a single-table Crucible match for the first time, the semi-final between eventual champion and David Gilbert. But for the first time since she became a top-tier referee, Tatiana has been joined at the tournament by husband the world No.44, who battled through qualifying to reach the Crucible. For his first World Championship appearance in 12 years, Ben was drawn against fellow Leicester cueist in the first round. But there was no prospect of Tatiana being involved as she is strictly barred from refereeing Ben's matches, not that she would want to.

"He's on the circuit as a player, I'm on the circuit as a referee," she said in an interview ahead of last year's UK Championship, where she took charge of the final between and Barry Hawkins. "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.

Ben trails four-time world champion Selby 5-4 after the first session of their first round match, which concludes on Thursday night. Just being at the Crucible is a victory for the 37-year-old, who has been since having a Covid jab four years ago.

After fearing he would lose his tour card, he managed to retain his professional status. And with his symptoms easing, Ben is hoping to push up the rankings.

Speaking last year, Tatiana said: "It's been a tough, tough time. It's taken a long time. At the start of this, he would always complain about the way he felt, then he went through a period where he thought people were fed up of hearing about him being ill and kept it to himself.

"But I knew he wasn't right, even though he wasn't mentioning it. But now he feels better in himself, he can practice longer hours, he can play with the kids more. It's been slow progress but he is definitely getting there. We can see that from his results."