Ronnie O'Sullivan sportsmanship in UK Championship final brings ovation from fans - 'Applause for honesty'

ByDan Quarrell

Published 03/12/2023 at 16:44 GMT

Ronnie O'Sullivan is known as a player who always calls fouls on himself, and he certainly lived up to that reputation in the pressure cooker of a Triple Crown final on Sunday at the UK Championship. The Rocket had a very tricky shot on a red with the cue ball lodged in front of another, and he was quick to flag to the match referee and his opponent, Ding Junhui, when he fouled.

Some excellent sportsmanship from Ronnie O'Sullivan prompted an ovation from the crowd at the Barbican Centre in York during the UK Championship final with Ding Junhui on Sunday.

The Rocket was trailing 21-19 in a very tight sixth frame while holding an impressive 4-1 early lead in the showpiece match when he had a very tricky shot with his intended shot on the cue ball made more difficult by a red in behind it.

He had to get some assistance from the spider on top of the regular rest to get above the cue ball and play the shot, but he ended up somewhat inevitably brushing the red as he aimed the cue down after a long time tackling the challenge.

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"Thank you, Ronnie," said match referee Rob Spencer with the star calling a foul on himself in very honest fashion.

Eurosport commentator Philip Studd explained: "He has touched the red, so at the end of all of that, he has fouled four away.

"There is applause from the crowd for the honesty with Ding back at the table, and he now has the same shot."

Ding managed to execute the nightmare effort very impressively to grab back some momentum in the match, and he went on to level the session at 4-4 by the time the players departed in the afternoon.

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"Excellent, really good," Studd said as Ding potted the red. "It did not look like much, but that was superbly executed. Well played."

Snooker legend Jimmy White picked up the analysis in the Eurosport studio.

"That shot there, he looked really uncomfortable," White said of O'Sullivan using the spider on top of the regular rest.

"Ronnie always declares his own fouls, we all do. You see Ronnie then applauding the next shot from Ding because he knew how hard it was.

"A fair few of these little shots have gone Ding's way, which is fair enough because he was trailing 4-1 with not much having gone his way."

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