Ronnie O’Sullivan beats Stan Moody at Six Red World Championship in Thailand, praises James Wattana

Ronnie O’Sullivan booked his spot in the last 16 of the Six Red World Championship with a 5-2 victory over Stan Moody in Thailand.

With Thai icon Wattana edging out Jimmy Robertson 5-4 in the other Group H match, it means the leading duo cannot be caught by Robertson or Moody before they meet to settle the winner of the section later.

O’Sullivan, who made a rapid knock of 69 in just under four minutes in the sixth frame, is making his debut at the shortened version of the sport in Bangkok, but has plenty of happy memories of playing in Thailand.

He lost 9-6 to Wattana in the final of the 1995 Thailand Open, but claimed his third ranking title of a record 39 with a 9-8 win over fellow Englishman Brian Morgan in the Asia Classic final a year later.

O’Sullivan praised three-time ranking event winner Wattana for raising the profile of snooker in his home country.

“I played James out here in his peak,” he said on WST. “I played him in a match and we had to stop for the adverts and he was on every advert, Nescafe, Thai Airways, and I was sitting there thinking this geezer is unbelievable.

“I’ve never ever hung out with anyone so famous. When he was in his prime, he couldn’t go anywhere and needed a security police escort to go everywhere.

“He’s been massive for Thai snooker. Thailand snooker is very strong. They’ve got some fantastic players and that is because of James and what he has done in the game.”

The top two from each group progress to the last-16 knockout stage with the final contested on Saturday.

Masters champion Judd Trump advanced to the knockout stages as Group D winner after a 5-4 win over Ma Hailong and was joined by Ricky Walden, who squeezed through as runner-up courtesy of a 5-4 success against Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn.

Latest results on Wednesday

Wednesday 8 March

Group F

• Mark Williams 5-4 Sunny Akani
• Joe Perry 5-3 Andres Petrov

Group G

• Jordan Brown 5-2 Mahmoud El Hareedy
• Stuart Bingham 5-1 Noppon Saengkham

Group D

• Judd Trump 5-4 Ma Hailong
• Ricky Walden 5-4 Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn

Group H

• Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-2 Stan Moody
• Jimmy Robertson 4-5 James Wattana

Group B

• Zhou Yuelong 2- 4 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
• Tom Ford 2-3 Jimmy White

Group F

• Mark Williams 3-2 Andres Petrov
• Joe Perry 1-3 Sunny Akani

Group E

• Matthew Selt v Dechawat Poomjaeng
• Robert Milkins v Chris Wakelin

Group H

• Ronnie O’Sullivan v James Wattana
• Jimmy Robertson v Stan Moody

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