I’m being blackmailed, fumes O’Sullivan

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.

Earlier this month, the often-outspoken 35-year-old won the seventh in a series of 12 Players Tour Championship (PTC) events being staged by World Snooker in a bid to address previous claims from players that there were not enough tournaments.

Valuable ranking points have been tagged to the events, and O’Sullivan won the most recent of them in Gloucester, picking up a prize of £10,000 in the process, and he sits top of the Order of Merit having also tasted victory in the first PTC in Sheffield.