GET WELL SOON: A top Snooker player Seriously sick And this happened to him…
According to Ronnie O’Sullivan, surviving the 17-day sporting stress test and trying to stay healthy for the World Championship requires expertise. The seven-time Crucible champion, who battled a virus during a 10-7 victory over Pang Junxu in the opening round on Saturday night, was heading for a period of rest. “There is a lot that can go wrong for you,” he stated.
Before he goes back to the table at the 47th World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, Ronnie O’Sullivan has taken to his bed. However, he is not unfamiliar with feeling ill at the elite event in the sport.
In a 10-7 victory over Pang Junxu on Saturday night, O’Sullivan disclosed that he was fighting a virus just as much as his opponent. It was the first time in ten years that O’Sullivan has failed to register a century break at the Crucible.
“I’ve got a bug so I’ve been absolutely hanging all day – legs, limbs, everything has gone – just hanging in there,” he stated. “I was so desperate to cross the boundary. It’s a terrible sensation.
OSullivan – who has hit 199 Crucible centuries since his debut in 1993 – hopes to be reinvigorated after a few days of rest and recuperation before continuing his quest for a record eighth world title against Ding Junhui or Hossein Vafaei in the last 16.
He is due to contest the best-of-25 frame match on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Falling ill at the sport’s biggest event is not an unexpected hurdle for O’Sullivan, who is making a record 31st straight appearance at the Crucible. He admits he was violently sick on the first morning of the 2012 final against Ali Carter before recovering to eke out a 10-7 overnight lead ahead of the second day.
“I’ve had plenty of bad sleeps in Sheffield and recovered from them. That’s a minor,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport. “There are other things that can happen during those 17 days when you think: ‘God, how do I deal with this one?’
“Like your tip coming off. That’s a nightmare when you have to put a new tip on and have to play through this. Or you get food poisoning.
“On the morning when I played Ali Carter, I was spewing up all morning. I was ill. I was absolutely knackered when I went out for the first session. I thought: ‘I’ve come all this way and I’ve been spewing up all morning’. I had spots on my face and I felt awful.
“But I got through the first day and on the second day I was flying. I thought ‘wow’. But that first day could have killed me off.
“I’ve never told anyone that. I just remember waking up and being sick all morning. And just thinking: ‘What’s happened to me?’
“It probably was food poisoning and I was shocked I was able to play that well feeling so bad. In the evening I struggled a bit, but the next day I was as fresh as a daisy.
“I was fortunate with that one.”
