RONNIE’S MAJOR GRIPE

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN has launched a scathing attack on snooker’s talent pool ahead of his first ranking-event outing of the season.

The Rocket, who makes his UK bow at the English Open in Crawley in 10 days, is increasingly shunning 128-player events that require a preliminary round against a lower-ranked

player. O’Sullivan (below) said: “Do people want to watch poor players play good players week in and week out? “It’s getting to the point where the only time snooker is worth watching is the quarterfinals. It’s the equivalent of Rafa Nadal having to go out and qualify for major events in front of no one.”