Ronnie O’Sullivan shows “incredible” sportsmanship during an incident at the World Snooker Championship

Ronnie O’Sullivan showed “incredible” sportsmanship during an incident during his quarter-final defeat to Stuart Bingham at the World Snooker Championship.

O’Sullivan led 6-5 in the best-of-25 contest and was trailing by 14 points in the 12th frame when the bizarre moment occurred after he potted the black.

Referee Desislava Bozhilova tried to spot the black ball again – a delicate process because the white ball was so close and the black ball easily slipped from its spot.

Bozhilova felt that Black was on the right track, but O’Sullivan was unconvinced and did not seem to accept the advantage of being able to sink the next Red into the left corner pocket due to Black’s position.

Despite Bingham’s indifference, O’Sullivan refused to hole the Red, opting instead for a safety shot. O’Sullivan then lost the frame and fellow world champion Neil Robertson hailed the extraordinary moment.

“He played it safe even though he was able to sink the red one. It’s unbelievable,” Robertson said while analyzing the game for BBC Sport.

“That’s probably some of the greatest sportsmanship I’ve ever seen in any sport. That’s incredible. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

However, O’Sullivan had a different take on the incident, telling Eurosport: “To be honest with you, some of the referees, I think they were out to get me, so I just wanted to prove to her that she had done it.” is wrong.

“Afterwards I didn’t feel good about putting the ball in, but I just wanted to get the point across. The point was clear. I’m not that hungry to win it that way, so once the principle is set, I can sleep at night.”

Bozhilova, 31, has been a referee on the professional tour for 12 years and officiated the respective Masters and UK Championship finals in 2022.

The WST rejected O’Sullivan’s allegations and insisted that Bozhilova acted correctly throughout the incident.

The game’s second session ended with eight frames each before Bingham pulled off a surprising 13-10 victory and advanced to the Final Four.