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Ronnie O’Sullivan has hinted that his future could lie away from snooker and admitted to being ‘fascinated’ by a rising sport; Chinese 8-ball.
The new cue sport is a type of pool with slight variations such as the pockets being dressed like those on a snooker table despite the balls being the same size as those on American pool tables. It is seen as a middle ground between professional snooker and professional 9-ball.
Chinese 8-Ball is rapidly growing, especially in Asia, and looks set to become the next big thing in televised cue sport, with plenty of TV coverage already secured and rapidly growing prize funds
O’Sullivan is currently in China attempting to retain his Shanghai Masters title but gave an interview with media outlet Let’s Meet in Shanghai, where he addressed potentially switching sports. He said: “Any cue sport fascinates me, so I’m looking at how popular Chinese 8-Ball is in China now. It’s huge, it’s massive. I’m trying to see if there’s an appetite for me to go over and play pool at some point.
“I can’t keep playing snooker against the young guys, getting up for it, match-in-match-out, I don’t want to be playing just for the sake of it. I want to keep playing for the next 10-15 years, earning a living, having a good time.
“China’s a place I like to go, obviously it’s a very popular sport out there but I’ll just have to see what my sponsors are like because at the moment they’re sponsoring me as a snooker player, but I’m trying to see if they’ll sponsor me as a pool player. To me it’s about keeping my sponsors happy, it doesn’t matter if I play pool snooker, billiards, whatever. I just want to have a nice life.
“They pay my bills, pay my salary, so obviously I’ve got to keep them sweet and if they want me to keep playing snooker then I’ll have to keep playing.
“If they’re cool with me to play pool I’ll definitely entertain that. I’d have to get used to the game, but it wouldn’t take me long.”
Brit Mark Williams has already dipped his toes into the world of Chinese 8-ball and will play in the Joy Cup World Heyball Masters Grand Finals this year where the top purse exceed the £500,000 winners’ prize from the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible.
