Ronnie O’Sullivan pulls out of major snooker league before competition has even finished

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN has pulled out of the snooker Championship League before his group has even finished.

The world No1 played in Group Seven of the competition, beating Sam Craigie and Elliot Slessor 3-2 in his first two matches.

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Ronnie O’Sullivan has pulled out of his Championship League group[/caption]

But in his third match he lost 3-0 to Jak Jones, before a 3-2 defeat to Joe O’Connor in his next game.

O’Sullivan had two scheduled matches remaining but tournament organisers confirmed that the Rocket had withdrawn.

The group will still be played to a conclusion on Thursday with the six remaining players.

O’Sullivan is due to travel to Saudi Arabia for the big-money World Masters of Snooker in Riyadh, which starts on Monday.

He will be joined by Judd Trump, Mark Allen, Mark Selby, Luca Brecel, Shaun Murphy, Ali Carter and Mark Williams – along with Saudi wildcards Omar Alajlani and Qatar’s Ali Alobaidli.

And the three-day event will feature a new “golden ball” which could increase the maximum break to an unprecedented 167.

With a prize pot of £800,000 at stake, O’Sullivan confessed he, “does not really care about his performances anymore to be honest”.

But O’Sullivan then told Sportsboom: “When I’m out in Saudi, I’ll be giving it 300 per cent.”

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Later this year a ranking event, the Saudi Arabia Masters, will take place with a prize fund of £2million – making it the richest event in the sport after the World Championship.

Meanwhile, O’Sullivan has revealed he is “on strike” from 147 breaks in snooker until the prize money is increased.

The snooker star has hit 15 maximums during his sensational career.

O’Sullivan was asked about his record of smashing 147s in the sport.

The 48-year-old insisted that he could probably hit a few more before he retires.

He said: “I reckon another five or six, but I went on strike a long time ago.”

When asked if he would stay on strike, O’Sullivan insisted that he would until snooker chiefs “start bumping up the prize money”.