Snooker star Ronnie O’Sullivan has confessed that he may quit snooker for a new job due to ‘feeling quite old’ competing at the highest level. The 47-year-old is contemplating competing in the eight-ball pool circuit in China instead, but only if his sponsors allow.

“I’m really hard on myself for my age,” said O’Sullivan talking to BBC Sport after beating 25-year-old Zhou Yuelong 6-5 in the UK Championship quarter-final. “You feel quite old out there playing.

“I think shall I go and play Chinese eight-ball pool. I like being in China. I’ve got to see if my sponsors are cool with it, if they’re alright with it then it’s an easier gig for me. It’s a smaller table, the players aren’t as good so you can get away with it.

“You bring a snooker skill to pool then you’re ahead of the game as this is technically the harder sport. You get to a point, I don’t want to be a sad-case out there. You look at them and think ‘he’s done mate’. You see that with older players, you think ‘just stop’. It’s going to come at some point, I don’t want it to happen.

O’Sullivan cruised into a 3-0 lead against Yuelong in their quarter-final match before making some uncharacteristic mistakes. The seven-time world champion looked frustrated at himself for missing some shots and lost five of the next seven frames.

The Rocket found himself 5-4 down before drawing back to force a decider and then progressing into the semi-final. O’Sullivan has won the UK Championship seven times with his last coming in 2018.

“If I get an eighth it will be ‘what’s it like going for a ninth’,” he added. “It’s never-ending. I just want to have fun. It was hard work out there for me today. I felt a bit embarrassed to be honest. I was missing so many bad balls. You just think ‘wow how do I correct that’. I was pleased that I managed to turn it around.”