The world No.1 Ronnie O’Sullivan pulled out of the Scottish Open at the last minute (Picture: Getty)
Shaun Murphy has launched a surprise defence of Ronnie O’Sullivan after he withdrew from the Scottish Open at the last minute.
The world No.1 was scheduled to face Liam Graham earlier this week but pulled out of the even shortly before he was due to play his opening round match.
O’Sullivan was subsequently branded ‘disrespectful’ by Graham whose own frustration was matched by those fans who had paid to watch the recently crowned UK champion in action.
He said: ‘It’s disrespectful what he’s done, it’s not right. A lot of people took time off work to come and watch today and it’s disappointing.
‘At the end of the day I want to play the best players in the world and I was really looking forward to it. I had a lot of people coming to watch and it’s really disappointing for them.
‘It’s not surprising given the things he does. I found out when I got to the venue this morning. I didn’t have much prior warning, I think he pulled out very late.
‘It’s not surprising given the things he does. I found out when I got to the venue this morning. I didn’t have much prior warning, I think he pulled out very late.
Liam Graham was excited to get his first crack at O’Sullivan on the main tour (Picture: Mark Robinson)
‘I would have stayed at home and all the people who have travelled to watch me would have come another day as well.’
Murphy and O’Sullivan have rarely seen eye-to-eye in recent years with the pair clashing recently over the former’s decision to bring multiple cues to his matches at the Northern Ireland Open.
The 2005 world champion, however, launched an unlikely defence of The Rocket and believes he was well within his rights to pull out of the Scottish Open on medical grounds.
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‘I’ve seen lots of things written about this,” Shaun Murphy said on the latest episode of the OneFourSeven Snooker Podcast. I’m curious. I want to understand and gauge the temperature and opinion of the snooker fraternity.
‘I think there’s quite a bit of misunderstanding here. No one is obliged to play in anything. Obviously he and I don’t see eye to eye on many things – everyone knows that – but he’s not obliged to play in anything.
He’s well within the rules to withdraw from any event that he wants to. The reasons he gives? That’s a different subject. But he actually hasn’t done anything wrong by the letter of the law from WST’s point of view, so I’m confused where the narrative comes from.’
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