Ronnie O'Sullivan's blackmail accusations
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN last night accused snooker authorities of “blackmailing” players.
Three-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, 35, boosted his flagging No11 world ranking by reaching the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters yesterday, easily seeing off Thailand’s James Wattana 5-1 in China.
But afterwards he attacked supremo Barry Hearn for handing low-profile Players’ Tour Championship events significant ranking points.
He said: “I need to play in more events this season, so I’ll play in some of the silly PTCs because they have ranking points, which is blackmailing us. I feel it’s wrong and so do some of the other players.”