joeSoap
14/12/2006, 3:33 PM
from the Indo website:
O'Sullivan sensationally concedes after going 4-1 down
16:06 Thursday December 14th 2006
Ronnie O'Sullivan sensationally conceded his Maplin UK Championship quarter-final against Stephen Hendry today after only five frames.
`The Rocket' was losing 4-1 and was at the table 24 points ahead when he missed an attempted pot and immediately declared the match over, shaking the hand of Hendry and referee Jan Verhaas.
He walked straight out of the Barbican Centre arena, leaving Hendry and the crowd visibly baffled by his decision.
It meant Hendry went through to the semi-finals as a 9-1 winner and will play either Steve Davis or Graeme Dott on Saturday.
World Snooker officials revealed O'Sullivan would not be holding a press conference to explain the reasons for his walk-out.
Within minutes of O'Sullivan's walk-out, stunned Hendry admitted the incident was ``bizarre''.
He told BBC2: ``Ronnie's obviously got his reasons and I'm not going to criticise him.
``He just said he had had enough and wished me good luck for the rest of the tournament - only he knows what he feels inside.
``I can't criticise someone else for that - but I've never seen anything like it.
``I played fantastic for the first four frames and didn't give him many chances.
``But at 4-1 he was in the balls and I was thinking `keep concentrating'.
``He went for a silly red and missed it and I was thinking `keep going' - suddenly he shook my hand.
``I had no inkling there was anything wrong - he knows what he's doing.''
World Snooker's Michael Ganley, the tournament director, confirmed on BBC2: ``Basically, Ronnie has conceded the match.
``I asked him if anything was wrong and he said `no'. He's left the building and it has shocked us all.
O'Sullivan sensationally concedes after going 4-1 down
16:06 Thursday December 14th 2006
Ronnie O'Sullivan sensationally conceded his Maplin UK Championship quarter-final against Stephen Hendry today after only five frames.
`The Rocket' was losing 4-1 and was at the table 24 points ahead when he missed an attempted pot and immediately declared the match over, shaking the hand of Hendry and referee Jan Verhaas.
He walked straight out of the Barbican Centre arena, leaving Hendry and the crowd visibly baffled by his decision.
It meant Hendry went through to the semi-finals as a 9-1 winner and will play either Steve Davis or Graeme Dott on Saturday.
World Snooker officials revealed O'Sullivan would not be holding a press conference to explain the reasons for his walk-out.
Within minutes of O'Sullivan's walk-out, stunned Hendry admitted the incident was ``bizarre''.
He told BBC2: ``Ronnie's obviously got his reasons and I'm not going to criticise him.
``He just said he had had enough and wished me good luck for the rest of the tournament - only he knows what he feels inside.
``I can't criticise someone else for that - but I've never seen anything like it.
``I played fantastic for the first four frames and didn't give him many chances.
``But at 4-1 he was in the balls and I was thinking `keep concentrating'.
``He went for a silly red and missed it and I was thinking `keep going' - suddenly he shook my hand.
``I had no inkling there was anything wrong - he knows what he's doing.''
World Snooker's Michael Ganley, the tournament director, confirmed on BBC2: ``Basically, Ronnie has conceded the match.
``I asked him if anything was wrong and he said `no'. He's left the building and it has shocked us all.