Iranian Vafaei struggling to focus on snooker at Crucible as bombs fall on his country

• ‘Persian Prince’ begins campaign amid conflict

• ‘I’m fighting as well for my country, for my family’

Hossein Vafaei begins his campaign at the snooker world championship later on Wednesday but the groundbreaking Iranian admits it has been hard to focus because of the bombardment of his country by the United States and Israel.

The war, which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February, has since engulfed the Gulf countries and Lebanon and ignited fears of a global energy shock. For now, an uneasy truce reigns which was extended by the US president Donald Trump at the 11th hour on Tuesday.