World champion Ronnie O'Sullivan returned to the baize for the first time since his title retention in Sheffield and he picked up where he had left off.

DESPITE beating a hasty retreat following his surprise 4-1 defeat by Xiao Guadong at the PTC Snooker event in Killarney yesterday, Ronnie O’Sullivan’s recent comments about feeling ‘raped’ and ‘blackmailed’ into playing a lot of the World Snooker events at moment were a hot topic of conversation at the INEC.

Three-time world champion Ronnie O‘Sullivan claims he is being “blackmailed” by the game‘s governing body, saying they are “raping” him by making ranking points available for smaller tournaments.

THREE-TIME world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan claims he is being “blackmailed” by the game’s governing body, saying they are “raping” him by making ranking points available for smaller tournaments.

Shaun Murphy won the inaugural Players Tour Championship title tonight when he whitewashed surprise finalist Martin Gould in Dublin.