Exhibition events in the Far East are becoming increasingly lucrative, but often clash with World Snooker Tour events.
If Ronnie O’Sullivan is prevented from playing in China, he has threatened to give up snooker.
Exhibitions in the Far East are getting more and more profitable, although they frequently coincide with World Snooker Tour events. O’Sullivan and other players from the UK are under contract to compete in WST tournaments; if they withdraw from competition to play abroad, they risk punishment. The seven-time world champion claims that there is a “crossroads” in the sport.
“I won’t ever play again if I can’t go and do what I need to do, which is play a lot in China,” O’Sullivan declared in a BBC interview to promote his new documentary. We are thus currently at a sort of crossroads.
“If that gets to the point where I’m not able to do that, I’m not allowed to do that, I probably won’t play. I’ll probably go and play Chinese 8-Ball because I still want to play snooker, I still want a cue in my hand.
“There’s just not enough here in the UK for me to justify the effort that I put in. If someone’s going to respect me and value me more, why would I not go there? It’s like being in an unhealthy relationship with someone, why would you be in that?
“I’d love to be able to just keep playing snooker for the next five, six, seven, eight years, but if I’m going to be forced into a situation where that’s not possible, then I’m not going to just accept whatever 132 players do, which is to go and play tournament after tournament, week in, week out.”
O’Sullivan has famously derided the standard on the WST in the past, suggesting he would need to lose a limb to drop down the rankings.
He still adopts that stance, claiming he is “revolted” by mediocrity.
“I don’t think it’s very hard to be a top-16 snooker player. I could probably get away with playing once a week for two or three hours a day,” O’Sullivan, 47, added.
“I find it hard to put myself in their shoes because I was in their shoes and I didn’t accept top 50 as OK.
