Ronnie O'Sullivan hailed for 'greatest act of sportsmanship in any sport' during his World Championship quarter-final at the Crucible

By Sporting Life

Snooker

Thu May 02, 2024 · 8M ago

Ronnie O’Sullivan was praised for an apparent act of sportsmanship midway through the second session of his World Snooker Championship quarter-final against Stuart Bingham at the Crucible.

In a session that ended 8-8 of Bingham's eventual 13-10 success, attention focused on the 12th frame when O’Sullivan, 14 points down and on a break of 20, played safe rather than opting to pot a red close to the black because he believed the black had not been spotted correctly.

O’Sullivan deliberated with referee Desislava Bozhilova for almost five minutes as the re-spotted black repeatedly rolled fractionally off its spot, which gave the world number one a clear shot at a simple red into the top pocket.

A lot of talk about Ronnie O'Sullivan's act of sportsmanship in a crucial frame that he lost - and his subsequent comments about it.

Stuart Bingham branded Ronnie the 'most honest player here' and also spoke of crowd disturbances and his pride at winning... pic.twitter.com/Gk7VvlbKym
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) May 2, 2024

Appearing to believe that if the black did not roll it would block his potting angle, O’Sullivan eventually opted to play a simple safety off the top cushion, earning an ovation from audience and praise from Neil Robertson, who was making his commentary debut for the BBC.

“Ronnie is the type of character that, even if he believes the black isn’t on its spot, he would probably play safe,” said Robertson.

“He’s looking to play safe here even though he can pot a red. It’s unbelievable. If he plays safe here it will probably be the greatest bit of sportsmanship I’ve ever seen in any sport.”

Bingham went on to win the match and afterwards hailed O'Sullivan - branding him the most honest player in the game.

However O’Sullivan provided a different take on the incident, telling Eurosport: “To be honest with you, some of the refs, I think they’ve got it in for me, so I just wanted to prove to her that she got it wrong.

“I didn’t feel good about potting the ball after that, but I just wanted to make the point. The point was made. I’m not that hungry to win it in that way, so once the principle’s been made I can sleep at night.”

"I just wanted to make a point... point was made." 🤷‍♂️

Ronnie O'Sullivan talks to Rachel Casey about the 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙖𝙡 respotted black ball in his match against Stuart Bingham ⚫👀#CazooWorldChampionship pic.twitter.com/QcPlm1aOdY
— Eurosport (@eurosport) May 1, 2024

🗣️ "This is probably one of the greatest bits of sportsmanship I have ever seen in any sport."

This is class from Ronnie O'Sullivan 👏

The Rocket turned down a chance to pot the red as he was unsure whether the black was lying correctly on its spot.#BBCSnooker pic.twitter.com/cNzN89LKXs
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 1, 2024

WATCH: WILL THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STAY AT THE CRUCIBLE?

SHOULD SNOOKER LEAVE THE CRUCIBLE?

O’Sullivan is no stranger to sporting gestures. At last year’s UK Championship in York, he declared a foul on himself after feathering the cue ball midway through a tight sixth frame of the final against Ding Junhui.

O’Sullivan went on to lose the frame in question to Bingham, before breaks of 79 and 84 saw O’Sullivan move two frames clear in the match for the first time.

But Bingham responded with a superb display of break-building in the final two frames of the session to leave it all to play for on Wednesday evening, with a semi-final against qualifier Jak Jones at stake.