Former Scottish Olympian forced to leave Lion King production at the Edinburgh Playhouse as he couldn't fit in the seats

Former Team GB star Kieron Achara was forced to leave mid-performance.

One of Scotland's most celebrated basketball players had to leave a performance of the Lion King at the Edinburgh Playhouse due to not being able to fit in the seats.

Kieron Achara, who is 6ft 7ins, was the youngest basketball player to play for Scotland and spent a decade representing both Scotland and Great Britain at major tournaments including the 2012 Olympics.

However, the Stirling-born star's enjoyment of the Lion King performance was significantly curtailed by the size of the seats.

Kieron Achara played for Team GB more than 100 times.

Writing on Twitter, Mr Achara said he spent the first half of the show "sitting on the arm rest" before being forced to leave due to the discomfort.

He said: "@edinplayhouse attended the Lion King tonight, it was a spectacular production unfortunately I couldn't fit in your sets and had to leave at the interval because the discomfort was too much after sitting on the arm rest for the first half."

Edinburgh Playhouse apologised to Mr Achara for his troubles in a reply on Twitter.

A spokesperson later said: "The Edinburgh Playhouse have been in direct contact with the customer since this morning."

The Edinburgh Playhouse was showing the Lion King

An Olympic star

Mr Achara played more than 100 times for Team GB and 30 times for Scotland during his career, captaining both sides.

His major achievements included playing at both the 2012 London Olympics and the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

In Scotland he began his career with Falkirk Fury with spells in Europe and at Duquesne College in the USA before returning to play out his career at Glasgow Rocks.

He spent five years, playing more than 150 times and scoring more than 2,000 points before retiring in 2019 from professional basketball.