Ronnie O’Sullivan was held up by opponent Stuart Bingham on Sunday night – but also by a rogue butterfly who managed to get into the arena and over the table.
O’Sullivan is going for a fifth 12bet.com UK Championship title this year in Telford, and came into the tournament in fine form having recently won the Premier League.
Bingham is an occasional practice partner for the Rocket, and has joked in the past about feeling out of place turning up at O’Sullivan’s Essex mansion to play him.
But the butterfly – identified as a Red Admiral – brought a smile to both players’ faces as it brought proceedings to a halt in the fourth frame of the evening.
Referee Paul Collier tried in vain to trap the offending intruder with a rest, but fortunately tournament director Mike Ganley was able to humanely capture the butterfly before releasing it unharmed into a plant pot.
O’Sullivan was celebrating his 35th birthday on Sunday – but Bingham was clearly in no mood to give him any presents on the table.
The 34-year-old Bingham is best known for a sensational 10-7 first-round victory over seven-time and then defending world champion Stephen Hendry at the Crucible a decade ago in 2000.
It is mystifying how Bingham has not achieved more in the sport since – but he put up a strong showing in the first session against O’Sullivan, and could have finished even better than 4-4 going into Monday’s decisive frames.
4 comments:
Ronnie O’Sullivan was the shock big-name casualty on day three of the 12bet.com UK Championship on Monday as he fell to a 9-6 defeat to former practice partner Stuart Bingham.
Bingham, the world No23, lives just a short distance away from O’Sullivan in Essex to the east of London, the former in Basildon with the Rocket based in nearby Chigwell.
The 34-year-old Bingham used to travel to O’Sullivan’s mansion, and admits he was intimidated parking his Toyota Lexus alongside O’Sullivan’s expensively assembled array of luxury sports cars.
But Bingham had nothing to be ashamed about on Monday as he completed a thoroughly deserved win that could have been by a far greater margin.
O’Sullivan was never at his best, and for most of the match played as if his mind was on other things and not fully focused on winning this title for a fifth time. It was the first time he had ever lost to Bingham.
To make matters worse for the three-time world champion, who turned 35 on Sunday, Bingham wasted no time in accusing him of giving up too easily, and also of lacking the correct manners around the table.
Bingham, who has just got engaged to be married to girlfriend Michelle, said: “It was a very sweet victory, and nice to get one back.
Obviously I owe him a few more than that, bit it was all a bit surreal.
“Ronnie doesn’t like triers, and I just tried to stay with him. At 6-4 down I thought ‘Here we go again’ but I won the next one and he seemed to throw the towel in.
“I stayed with him, and he seemed to get annoyed with his own game and throwing his arm at a few things. I thought ‘here’s your chance’.
“I have looked at a couple of matches he has played recently, like the one against Shaun Murphy in the Premier League.
“I don’t know whether it is etiquette, and you don’t need to, but when you fluke a ball or a snooker, 99 players out of 100 say sorry and I noticed he doesn’t.
“Maybe I just hadn’t slept well the night before or something and I was trying to gee myself up. Maybe I need to get a bit more angry more often.”
O’Sullivan admitted he had never felt at ease in the match, and while paying tribute to Bingham conceded that he might have to start playing for match practice in the smaller events he has been skipping.
He said: “I felt second to the punch every time, and getting bullied around the table and outplayed in every department.
“There is no substitute for match practice, and I have no divine right to turn up and expect to play well in just the big tournaments.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan was the shock big-name casualty on day three of the 12bet.com UK Championship on Monday as he fell to a 9-6 defeat to former practice partner Stuart Bingham.
Bingham, the world No23, lives just a short distance away from O’Sullivan in Essex to the east of London, the former in Basildon with the Rocket based in nearby Chigwell.
The 34-year-old Bingham used to travel to O’Sullivan’s mansion, and admits he was intimidated parking his Toyota Lexus alongside O’Sullivan’s expensively assembled array of luxury sports cars.
But Bingham had nothing to be ashamed about on Monday as he completed a thoroughly deserved win that could have been by a far greater margin.
O’Sullivan was never at his best, and for most of the match played as if his mind was on other things and not fully focused on winning this title for a fifth time. It was the first time he had ever lost to Bingham.
To make matters worse for the three-time world champion, who turned 35 on Sunday, Bingham wasted no time in accusing him of giving up too easily, and also of lacking the correct manners around the table.
Bingham, who has just got engaged to be married to girlfriend Michelle, said: “It was a very sweet victory, and nice to get one back. Obviously I owe him a few more than that, bit it was all a bit surreal.
“Ronnie doesn’t like triers, and I just tried to stay with him. At 6-4 down I thought ‘Here we go again’ but I won the next one and he seemed to throw the towel in.
“I stayed with him, and he seemed to get annoyed with his own game and throwing his arm at a few things. I thought ‘here’s your chance’.
“I have looked at a couple of matches he has played recently, like the one against Shaun Murphy in the Premier League.
“I don’t know whether it is etiquette, and you don’t need to, but when you fluke a ball or a snooker, 99 players out of 100 say sorry and I noticed he doesn’t.
“Maybe I just hadn’t slept well the night before or something and I was trying to gee myself up. Maybe I need to get a bit more angry more often.”
O’Sullivan admitted he had never felt at ease in the match, and while paying tribute to Bingham conceded that he might have to start playing for match practice in the smaller events he has been skipping.
He said: “I felt second to the punch every time, and getting bullied around the table and outplayed in every department.
“There is no substitute for match practice, and I have no divine right to turn up and expect to play well in just the big tournaments.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan was beaten by 34 year old Stuart Bingham who is his former practice partner...big shocking truth!
Great blog great information. It's actually most entertaining live soccer betting site each game is very interesting especially verified bets and it's extremely fascinated with different soccer sites. Have a look again on online soccer betting and get the experience you too and take the pleasure of with Mix Parlay Soccer Prediction today.
Post a Comment