Ronnie O'Sullivan has been accused of farting on snooker rival Shaun Murphy during the Wuhan Open. The seven-time world champion was said to be struggling with an upset stomach while competing in China, and a video posted on a joint Instagram account for O'Sullivan and his wife Laila Rouass showed the former passing wind.
Sweet potato diet blamed
The video was captioned: "Ronnie's been on the sweet potato diet. Good for the old bowles." Murphy, known as The Magician, was reportedly exiting the venue after competing on a different table when he was caught on the wrong side of the incident. Another post read: "Poor Shaun Murphy, getting a taste of last night's sweet potato."
O'Sullivan had returned to action in China after a difficult season, buoyed by a visit from Rouass. Wins over Yao Pengcheng, Stephen Maguire, and Mark Selby saw him through to the semi-final, where he met Chinese potter Bingyu Chang.
O'Sullivan on his form and future
It was a welcome sight seeing O'Sullivan winning matches again, given he had struggled to find his groove earlier this year. He will turn 51 in a few months and has spoken more and more about life after snooker. Speaking recently, he said: "I asked Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis, I spoke to them a couple of times and they said they probably played 10 years longer than they should have done. Because you always have this feeling, I want to play like I used to, because it's a nice feeling."
He added: "I'm not going to waste 10 years. I've wasted three or four, in my opinion, three or four years where it's been not great. I'll give myself another year-and-a-half, to see if I can find something. If I can't I think it's good to draw a line under it and move on to other things that are more suitable to me."
On his current level, O'Sullivan remarked: "My game is now very, very poor. I'm not playing to a good enough level. My technique is so rubbish I don't have a clue where the balls are going, it's like hit and hope snooker. I'm delighted to have won three matches, I can't believe it really. I just hope for some improvement in the future. I'm playing more for the future, to hopefully find something."
