Ronnie O’Sullivan decides to take part in 2012 Shanghai Masters snooker tournament
During the final proceedings of the 2012 World Snooker Championship, the snooker governing body World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) announced the addition of a certain number of tournaments in the new calendar which made the Champion, Ronnie O’Sullivan a bit angry. As a result of that, he refused to sign the contract with World Snooker.
After that he had a little verbal brawl with the World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn over the issue of not signing the contract. O’Sullivan wanted a break before beginning his new season campaign while Hearn insisted on playing the new season accordingly.
The WPBSA then made a statement that the players can take part in the new snooker season at any time but signing the contract is mandatory for them to launch their season run. This statement was quite clear to O’Sullivan so he took a break and is now resting at home with his family. The Essex Exocet intends to make an appearance in the 2012 Shanghai Masters snooker tournament.
O’Sullivan wrote on his Weibo page, “Have not signed my new tour contract as it is too restrictive – therefore I will not play until Shanghai, I would still like to enter events such as Shanghai if the local promoter allows me as a wildcard for example – not concerned about ranking points now.”
The Rocket further said, “Snooker must start to operate like golf / tennis In the future – players can choose which events they enter, can compete from Qual Round 1, can receive a wildcard spot and promoters can pay additional appearance fees to guarantee the top stars.”
Meanwhile, the new snooker season has commenced with the beginning of the 2012 Wuxi Classic snooker tournament at the Wuxi Sports Centre arena in Wuxi, China. Not attending a couple of major ranking snooker events before the 2012 Shanghai Masters will definitely affect O’Sullivan’s ranking points and he might slip out of the World Top 16.
However, he can still manage to stay in the elite panel if he performs well in the events he has selected to participate. Besides, he will have to sign the contract for the new season before playing in the Shanghai event which will make it compulsory for him to take part in all events that come after Shanghai Masters.
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