These are unprecedented times. A pigeon interrupted the match between China’s Yan Bingtao and England’s Mark Selby at the snooker World Championship in Sheffield, but Yan himself was the chief disrupter as he led the reigning champion after two sessions. The feathered one’s entrance during the second-round clash was an unexpected first for the Crucible Theatre, which in 40-plus years as tournament venue had witnessed snooker upsets, dozing spectators, water spillages and a streaker or two but zero recorded bird sightings. Yan was busy shaking up the status quo, too, inching 9-7 ahead in Saturday’s second session to enter the final session (overnight Hong Kong time) needing four more frames to eliminate the four-time winner. Selby may have had nightmares about meeting Yan after a season in which his record against “the Tiger” was played three, lost three. Yan had revealed after his first-round win over Chris Wakelin that he had just two hours’ sleep the previous night. But the 22-year-old from Shandong gave “the Jester from Leicester” cause for a restless evening on Friday, ending the opening session at 4-4 – despite being startled when the pigeon flew at him before settling on the top cushion. While Yan will fancy his chances of progressing, compatriot Zhao Xintong’s tilt at the title ended at the hands of Scotland’s Stephen Maguire. Zhao made a late comeback in his first ever best-of-25 match, reeling off four of the first five frames on Saturday, but having trailed 11-5 overnight he had too much to do against the experienced Maguire, who won 13-9. “In the first two sessions he played so well and put pressure on me,” Zhao told the World Snooker Tour website. “He has played for many years at the Crucible. I missed easy balls and gave him lots of opportunities to win the frames. I need to change my thinking in the way I play. “This is my first time as a seeded player at the Crucible and this year it was all about the experience for me. Next time I will do better and hopefully win this tournament.” Maguire set up a quarter-final against Zhao’s mentor, Ronnie O’Sullivan, who defeated Mark Allen 13-4.