Ronnie O’Sullivan denied a chance of the grand slam when he crashed out of the Betfred Snooker World Championships against Ding Junhui. At the Wales Open last year, Ronnie O’Sullivan turned down the opportunity for a maximum break — a snooker’s most extraordinary one-frame feat — when he learned that the prize was PS 12,000. Ronnie O’Sullivan said at the time that he did not feel the reward was worth the cost of the 147 and was criticised by Barry Hearn, World Snookers president.
After The Rocket’s fourth World Cup title victory at The Crucible last year, Ronnie OSullivan announced that he was taking time out from snooker. Ronnie O’Sullivan was already a sensational start in the late 90s. It had produced the fastest break of 147 in the snooker history, as he made the first-round grand slam at the 1997 World Snooker Championships in a time of five minutes, eight seconds. If Ronnie O’Sullivan were to defend his title at the World Snooker Championship, having played just one competitive game since winning it in May of last year — losing to Simon Bedford, who is now number 88 in the world — it would be an achievement that would be considered amongst the greatest of his career. This month, Ronnie O’Sullivan’s dominance in snooker headlines has come as he claimed a record-equalling seventh World Cup title at The Crucible, defeating Judd Trump in the final.
Barry Hearn is deploying spies to try and clean up snooker, calling on players to go shopping for anyone they suspect of cheating ahead of the snooker’s New Dawn. John Higgins is currently suspended from snooker, pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations the three-time World Champion agreed to drop frames. Although he has stood down as president, Barry Hearn retains much of his influence as president of the World Snooker Tour. He has insisted that the world snooker championships would not be leaving The Crucible in Sheffield for as long as he has any say. It is the best place for the World Snooker Championship, and Ronnie O’Sullivan will only move it if he can attract 5,000 people, meaning doubling prize money. The sports voting members voted 35-29 to support his plan for a future Snooker in Germany.
The Turkish Masters, British Open, European Masters, English Open, Northern Ireland Open, Scottish Open, German Masters, and Welsh Open have all seen significant increases in total prize money. Although the WST proposed a slew of new initiatives, The Metro reports that O’Sullivan‘s plan was not among them. “We have increased prize money for several events and made adjustments to create a more equal prize money ranking system,” a representative for the authority said. These revisions are the result of talks with players and the WPBSA Players Board.”
