Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
All gone Ron
O’SULLIVAN IS OUT OF WORLDS BARGES PAST ANGRY CARTER REF STEPS IN TO CALM IT DOWN ‘I’VE NO REASON TO BE SORRY’
RILED Ronnie O’Sullivan lost his head and barged opponent Ali Carter before crashing out of the Betfred World Championship.
In a moment of madness, title favourite O’Sullivan appeared to ‘bump into’ Carter in the 19th frame of his 13-9 defeat at the Crucible.
The unprecedented incident occurred with the Rocket trailing 10-8 in the pair’s second-round grudge-match in Sheffield.
Carter spiced things up in the build-up to the contest when he criticised World Snooker, the sport’s governing body, for running what he deemed to be the “Ronnie O’Sullivan show”.
Carter – ‘the Captain’ – had lost two world titles to his arch rival, and was angered when he couldn’t even get in his dressing room for his first-round match, after O’Sullivan overstayed his welcome.
Things came to a head out in the iconic theatre – and referee Paul Collier was forced to step in.
Five-time winner O’Sullivan said: “Sometimes you have to stand your ground, you get barged by someone once, I’m not a limbo dancer.
“I don’t get angry unless there’s justification there. I’m a good guy.”
O’Sullivan accused Carter of barging him. He said: “It happened earlier in the game, there were a couple of collisions out there.
“But, I don’t think I have anything to apologise for. Sometimes you just touch each other.
“Formula One has it all the time, they have contact in cars and we have contact in humans.”
Referee Collier did not issue either player a warning which could have resulted in disciplinary action.
But it’s not the first time O’Sullivan has lost his composure during a match.
He famously quit when 4-1 down against Stephen Hendry at the 2006 UK Championship in York.
A year earlier at the same event, O’Sullivan spent much of his defeat to Mark King with a towel over his head.
This was Carter’s first ranking win against O’Sullivan at the 14th attempt, with the former practice partners having fallen out many years ago. The Captain has overcome cancer and constantly battled Crohn’s disease during a testing snooker career.
And he stressed he wouldn’t be bullied by O’Sullivan on snooker’s grandest stage.
“He barged me,” rapped Carter. “But I’m not going to be bullied by anyone. I’ve been through a lot in my life and a lot harder things than a shoulder barge.
“I wasn’t going to be intimidated by Ronnie.
“If I fell and rolled on the floor that’s not me and it can’t be me, that’s impossible.
“If I barged him earlier then it’s tit for tat.
“It didn’t go too far though as he didn’t headbutt me.
“It is the Ronnie O’Sullivan show but today it was the Ali Carter show. I’m delighted.”
Carter resumed with a 9-7 lead and kept O’Sullivan at bay to end the Rocket’s charge for a sixth world crown.
Meanwhile, four-time Crucible champion John Higgins (left) stormed into a 8-0 lead against Jack Lisowski.
Former finalist Barry Hawkins reached a sixth successive quarter-final, after seeing off the Chinese debutant Lyu Haotian 13-10.
He barged me... and I’m not going to be bullied by
anyone