Ronnie withdraws from Shanghai
O’Sullivan Withdraws From Shanghai
Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan has pulled out of the Roewe Shanghai Masters, which starts on Monday.
O'Sullivan, who beat Liang Wenbo in last year's final at the Grand Stage, was due to face either Jamie Burnett or Tian Pengfei in the first round on Tuesday evening, but gave notice earlier today (Thursday) of his withdrawal from the world ranking event. The winner of the match between Tian and Burnett will receive a bye to the last 16.
Chigwell's O'Sullivan also pulled out of last week's Paul Hunter Classic in Germany, suffering from a back problem.
That doesn't surprise me. I know many don't believe it but the back problems are real.
I suppose Ronnie will nonetheless try to honour his contract in PL tonight because of the impact a withdrawal would have (just one match, no replacement, last minute, live audience etc ... ) but I'm not expecting much.
In that exo on Monday they played only 4 frames and Jimmy won 3 ... even if Ronnie made a maxi in the only one he won, he was hardly at his best. But the charity was important to him and so he did it, people had fun and a good sum of money was gathered.
But there is a huge difference between playing a few frames and flying over the world to play a full tournament.
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Monique - Posts: 4597
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