World Snooker Championship: Mark Williams on Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Hossein Vafaei feud – ‘Why would you wind him up?’

Mark Williams has weighed in on the ongoing spat between reigning champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and Hossein Vafaei at the World Championship ahead of their battle in the last 16 at the Crucible Theatre.

O’Sullivan and Vafaei already have a long-standing prickly relationship after they had a tense verbal exchange at last year’s championship, and the pair have taken media opportunities to keep the feud alive.

O’Sullivan appeared to be relishing the prospect of a showdown with Vafaei after his first-round win at the Crucible as he warned him, “don’t rattle my cage”, in an interview on Eurosport.

Williams wondered aloud while laughing as he listened to Vafaei’s comments on a phone in the Eurosport studio, “why would you wind him up?”

“He will probably win with a session to spare now,” the Welshman added as a prediction, backing O’Sullivan to respond very impressively to the broadside.

“He said he used to be his friend, but he said ‘yeah, not any more’. Nice!

“He is blaming him now for disrespecting his family!”

“The Crucible is going to be my home,” began Vafaei in his post-match interview with Rachel Casey.

“I have to play like that and show a performance like that to show the people and shut some people’s mouths. And to show them what I can do.

“This is just the beginning. My best has not come out yet. If my ‘A’ game comes out, I am definitely going to do some damage.”

Asked to clarify whose mouth he was trying to shut, Vafaei was resolute. “Ronnie O’Sullivan,” he said. He appeared to reference – and take exception to – O’Sullivan’s “don’t rattle my cage” interview on Eurosport.

“I was quiet and I was respecting him,” he continued. “But I saw so many people sending some interview or something like that. He is what he is. He is such a nice person when he is asleep.”

Vafaei had previously referred to O’Sullivan as his hero but has revised that view now.

“Not any more. I was following him and he is such a legend of the sport. No one can play snooker better than him. Absolutely he is a genius.

“But when you go to the personal, when you are following your hero, you want to be exactly like them. It was affecting me, I was disrespecting my family, my people. It is better not to say any more… as soon as I changed my hero I became a better person. I learned how to respect people.

“I know so many young people follow us, want to become like us – I don’t want them to disrespect their family. Like when they grow up, they use a bad word or something like that to their family or their opponent. I am trying to change the players’ minds to respect each other more. This is the game of snooker, not boxing.”

Asked if he would attempt to get the fans on his side during the O’Sullivan match, Vafaei was indifferent.

“I am already the champion,” he said. “Because once you have the people’s heart, it does not matter whether you win or lose.

“There is no pressure on me if I win or lose. If he beats me 13-0, I don’t care – he has been here 40 years. He doesn’t have anything to prove to the people – I already proved myself as well but who can be the better person with the people? That is more important in life.”

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