Some rather unsurprising news to bring you today as Ronnie O’Sullivan has announced his withdrawal from the German Masters, apparently citing medical reasons. Meanwhile there is disappointing news regarding today’s television coverage here in the UK…
As revealed by Dave H at SSB, O’Sullivan has again chosen to skip an overseas ranking event, mirroring his decision earlier this season not to defend his Shanghai Masters title. While I have not seen any official reason given, it is being reported over at The Snooker Blog that he his no-show is being put down to medical reasons. While I do not like to judge a situation without being in possession of the full facts, in this case I cannot help but be somewhat cynical about that.
Whatever the reason, as stated on the TSB article, as well as by SnookerBacker on Twitter earlier, the people who I have the most sympathy for are the German snooker fans, some of which will have been looking forward to seeing their hero in action and now face disappointment.
On the bright side, I understand that the playing arena has five tables present without any dividers so they will be able to see some top class snooker, but nevertheless it does leave a bad taste in the mouth and does little for the promotion of the game. But I digress.
EDIT: Barry Hearn has since expressed his disappointment at O’Sullivan’s withdrawal, stating that “he should start considering his future in the game and his responsibilities to it.” For the full quotes, see the article by Clive Everton over at the Guardian.
It is also somewhat worrying that world champion Neil Robertson appears to have lost his passport…
Meanwhile for those of you in the UK I have to be the bearer of bad news as unfortunately tonight’s play will unfortunately not be covered on British Eurosport. This means we will not be able to see the clash between Jack Lisowski and Luca Brecel, one that has caught the imagination of many.