O’Sullivan withdraws from finals

There was a dramatic twist to last night’s Betfair Players Tour Championship Grand Finals in Galway whenRonnie O’Sullivan pulled out due to medical reasons.

O’Sullivan, who is suffering from glandular fever, was due to face Ricky Walden in the last 16 of the event at the Bailey Allen Hall, Galway.

“It was disappointing to find out this morning that Ronnie had pulled out. It’s a shame for the fans who had bought tickets,” said World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn.

“It’s been a brilliant event so far with excellent crowds and some great snooker, watched by tens of millions of people around the world putting Galway in thespotlight on a global scale.” Meanwhile world number 51 Xiao Guodong defied a broken hand to dump Judd Trump out in the second round. Guodong stormed to a 4-2 win despite ignoring doctors’ advice not to play snooker after breaking a bone in his hand, whilst sleeping awkwardly three weeks ago. Earlier, Mark Selby moved through to the last eight with a 4-1 win over Ding Junhui.

Andrew Higginson beat Jamie Jones 4-3.