Ronnie O’Sullivan demands major change to snooker World Championship “circus”..

Ronnie O’Sullivan demands major change to snooker World Championship “circus”

Ronnie O’Sullivan has won seven World Snooker Championships, but believes the sport’s flagship event needs to move away from the Crucible and to a different country altogether

onnie O’Sullivan has demanded that the World Snooker Championship change venues(YouTube/WST)

Ronnie O’Sullivan has demanded that Sheffield’s Crucible be stripped of the Snooker World Championship and the tournament be moved to Saudi Arabia or China.

The Crucible is the traditional home of the sport’s showpiece event and has a contract to host the tournament until 2027. O’Sullivan has won seven world titles at the historic venue and is aiming for his eighth this year.

But The Rocket has now launched an extraordinary attack on the Crucible’s facilities. He has taken aim at the benefits offered to the players taking part compared to foreign venues.

O’Sullivan has insisted that the facilities in Sheffield are now so dated that it is time to move the World Championships to somewhere else. The snooker icon has instead tipped Saudi and China as the perfect location.

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“I think definitely it’s a wise decision to take it away from Sheffield. Still have a tournament there. Why not? But just not the world championship over 17 days. It’s a massive circus and you need a massive space to accommodate it,” he told The Sun.

“I think Saudi Arabia would be great. They’ve got the resources and would do it great. If you’re going to take it to China, you’d have to take it to Shanghai. Or another major city like Shenzhen or Guangzhou. It’d be done properly. Courtesy cars will be laid on.

“Food will be there. Hotels will be great. Everything would be paid for. Prize money would be astronomical. I know at the Crucible you get nice tea there, you might get lasagne if the guys are cooking. But that’s about it.

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