POT BLACKMAIL

Ronnie fires Rocket at snooker chiefs

- HECTOR NUNNS

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN claims snooker bosses’ tactics to make players take part in the Northern Ireland Open were verging on blackmail. 

And seven-time world champion O’Sullivan insists he could even skip the World Championship at the Crucible if the right exhibition offer came up in Asia.

The issue of players’ freedom to enjoy bumper sideline paydays has erupted over the past 10 days and led to governing body warnings about legal action.

Mark Selby, John Higgins and Luca Brecel were among those to snub the Belfast event to play a bigmoney exhibition in Macau.

That’s now postponed after World Snooker Tour pressure.

And the Rocket is playing in a lucrative exhibition in Shanghai this week along with Judd Trump, Mark Williams, Jack Lisowski and Ding Junhui.