CROWDED OUT ROCKET ISN’T STANDING FOR FANS’ RACKET

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN saw hopes of an eighth UK Championship title dashed amid a series of sit-down protests by him over crowd noise.

The Rocket was agitated from the start of his quarter-final with Kyren Wilson at the York Barbican – and was edged out 6-5 in a thriller by the world No.5.

O’Sullivan (above) missed out on the chance of celebrating his 46th birthday in tomorrow’s final, with Wilson gaining revenge for a 2020 world final defeat.

But on numerous occasions an irritated O’Sullivan sat down in his chair mid-break because of crowd interruptions as boozed-up spectators watching the other table came and went.

The bars were heaving at the venue yesterday with a large pre-Christmas crowd turning up the volume inside and outside of the auditorium.

And in one long exchange with referee Jan Verhaas, O’Sullivan called for a photographer who was observing all the protocols to be thrown out of the arena.

O’Sullivan said: “With the crowd - I could see them out of the corner of my eye, and like I said to the referee that I had all day. I can deal with loads of movement or no movement – but not both.

“I missed too many balls and wasn’t clinical or good enough – you can’t do that at the highest level.”

Wilson (above), through to a semifinal with Belgium’s Luca Brecel, had little sympathy. “The crowds didn’t distract me, I just wanted to get on with it,” he said.

“Ronnie is a flow player and all about momentum and it won’t be ideal for him stopping and starting.

Brecel saw off an out-of-sorts Anthony McGill 6-2 to reach a Triple Crown semi-final for the first time.