Just before the start of the World Grand Prix, Adrian Lewis and Stephen Bunting were tested positive for the Coronavirus. After this positive test, they had to leave the players' hotel immediately and were excluded from the tournament.
Simon Whitlock and Jeffrey de Zwaan were called up as replacements. They were the highest placed players in the world rankings who had not qualified for the World Grand Prix. De Zwaan took advantage of this opportunity by beating Jamie Hughes in the first round. Whitlock also won. The Australian defeated Chris Dobey, who was not satisfied with the circumstances.
''Total disaster from start to finish. Preparation was shot to bits and was an absolute shambles. Nothing against Simon, the best man won by far, but personally for me I don't see how the two players were able to step in. Win or lose, I would have still said the same'', Dobey stated in a deleted tweet.
The Bedlington ace came back on this one day later. ''Touching on from my last post. I’ve nothing against Simon or Jeffrey at all, but I just feel for both Adie and Stephen. They definitely earned there right to be here, so should get the qualifying money at least. No sour grapes at all win or lose I’d have said the exact same'', Dobey added.
Lewis replied to that message. ''You are right. If Simon and Jeffrey deserved to be there they would of been there on merit. They shouldn't receive money on there rankings, at the end of the day we are going through a pandemic'', the two-time world champion said on Twitter.
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