China or UK? Snooker champ Ronnie O’Sullivan makes clear where he would rather play tournaments
- O’Sullivan defends players’ right to travel to China for big-money events, despite recent conflict with the game’s chiefs over doing so
- ‘I get paid so much more for going to do that and it’s really hard for me to turn them down,’ says world No 1, who is ‘looking forward to Christmas in Macau’
Ronnie O’Sullivan has renewed his defence of snooker’s leading players for accepting invitations to lucrative events in China.
The world No 1 had previously voiced support for five other players who were told by World Snooker Tour (WST) that travelling to an exhibition in Macau in October – which coincided with the global circuit’s Northern Ireland Open – would put them in breach of contract.
That festive exhibition does not clash with a tour event, but O’Sullivan appeared not to rule out skipping the Scottish Open, which precedes it, as he reflected on his record-extending eighth UK Championship triumph on Sunday.
“I might go to Scotland, I’ll see how I feel,” he told British media. “I’m looking forward to Christmas in Macau. There’s eight top-quality players. It’s at the Wynn Palace, so it’s a proper job.
“It would be nice for people to see it on TV, but [WST] wouldn’t let us have it on TV.”
WST denied preventing the Macau event being screened, saying discussions were ongoing, and said it hoped to work with O’Sullivan to continue to grow the game.
The eight-player invitational tournament at Wynn Palace’s Grand Theatre on December 25 to 29 is set to feature O’Sullivan, Hong Kong’s Marco Fu Ka-chun, Si Jiahui and Ding Junhui of China, Judd Trump, Jack Lisowski, Mark Williams and Kyren Wilson.
O’Sullivan says Hong Kong Masters ‘changed snooker’, Fu says it revived career
Its £150,000 (US$190,000) winner’s prize exceeds the HK$1 million (US$125,000) at last year’s Hong Kong Masters – won by O’Sullivan, who considers the rewards and large, enthusiastic crowds in China worth travelling for at a time when he prefers to limit the time he spends on the road.
“I get paid so much more for going to do that and it’s really hard for me to turn them down,” the 48-year-old said. “I’ve got to think of my family and all of that sort of stuff.
“It’s all right if you win all of these tournaments. But if you get beat in the first round, you’re struggling to pay your bills.
“I’m trying to find the balance between competing and trying to take the good offers that are out there for me to do my own sort of thing.
“I try to do just 120 days a year away from home. So I want to save my days for some of the bigger tournaments. I just like to do what I want to do, when I want to do it.”
