Ronnie O’Sullivan withdraws from WST Classic to end Tour Championship snooker hopes

Ronnie O’Sullivan will miss the elite Tour Championship event later this month after withdrawing from the inaugural WST Classic on Sunday due to “medical reasons”.

The world champion was scheduled to meet world No. 69 David Grace in the last 64 at 6pm UK time in Leicester, but has pulled out of the event with fellow Englishman Grace advancing to the last 32.

“Ronnie O’Sullivan has withdrawn from the WST Classic in Leicester for medical reasons,” said World Snooker Tour in a statement.

“He was due to meet David Grace at 6pm on Sunday evening in the second round, but Grace now receives a bye into the last 32.”

The withdrawal means O’Sullivan can no longer qualify for the eight-man Tour Championship in Hull (March 27-2 April).

He had to claim the £80,000 WST Classic first prize and hope for favourable results to have any chance of making it into an event he won in 2019, but will be on the sidelines for the penultimate ranking competition of the 2022/23 campaign.

The world No. 1 will have a month to prepare for his world title defence at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield when he chases a record eighth crown at the sport’s biggest event (April 15-May 1 LIVE on discovery+ Eurosport).

Mark Allen, Shaun Murphy, Ali Carter, Kyren Wilson and Ryan Day have already secured their respective spots at the Tour event with Robert Milkins taking a step closer to qualification with a 4-2 win against former women’s world champion Mink Nutcharut earlier on Sunday.

The Welsh Open champion needs one more win against Robbie Williams to overtake Day into fifth place on the one-year ranking list.

Latest Tour Championship qualifiers

(players in bold still competing at WST Classic)

• 1 Mark Allen £529,000
• 2 Shaun Murphy £240,000
• 3 Ali Carter £189,000
• 4 Kyren Wilson £174,500
• 5 Ryan Day £159,000
• 6 Robert Milkins £154,500
• 7 Ding Junhui £140,500
• 8 Mark Selby £138,500
• ——————————————-
• 9 Luca Brecel £131,000
• 10 Jack Lisowski £128,000
• 11 Gary Wilson £125,500
• 12 Judd Trump £118,500

Latest WST Classic results

First round

• Jamie Clarke 4-0 Rebecca Kenna
• Robert Milkins 4-2 Mink Nutcharut
• Xiao Guodong 3-4 Daniel Wells
• Zhang Anda 4-3 Peter Devlin

Second round

• Steven Hallworth 0-1 Cao Yupeng
• Liam Highfield 2-2 Zhou Yuelong
• Scott Donaldson 1-0 Barry Hawkins
• Oliver Lines 3-2 Neil Robertson

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