Mark Allen will miss the forthcoming British Open and English Open tournaments for personal reasons, the World Snooker Tour has confirmed. The Northern Ireland player also sat out the recent Championship League, China Open and Wuhan Open ranking events, plus the Shanghai Masters, which is a non-ranking tournament. His absence from the British and English Opens will mean he has missed the first five ranking events of the season.

The world number 13 is the reigning English Open champion so will not be defending the title he won at Brentwood last year. Allen's last competitive professional appearance was at the World Championship in Sheffield at the start of May, when he lost a dramatic semi-final against eventual champion Wu Yize 17-16.

The Antrim man agonisingly missed a straight black off its spot in the penultimate frame to win the match before tasting defeat at the hands of the Chinese player. Allen had been scheduled to face Wang Xinbo in the first round of the British Open and Sam Craigie in his opening match in the English Open.

The British Open takes place from 31 August to 6 September in Cheltenham, with the English Open following from 7 to 13 September.