Ronnie O’Sullivan is keen on a tournament where everyone plays with their opposite hand, he says at English Open

Ronnie O’Sullivan wants another tournament added to the World Snooker Tour – where participants must play with their opposite hand!

The seven-time world champion was involved in a bust-up with Canada’s Alain Robidoux in the first round of the 1996 Championship when a young O’Sullivan began playing shots with his left hand having constructed an 8-2 lead overnight.

The 1997 World Championship semi-finalist accused O’Sullivan of being “disrespectful” even though his left-handed play has become almost as reliable as his right-handed stance in the ensuing 26 years.

The topic was brought up during a question-and-answer session with O’Sullivan and Jimmy White during Eurosport’s coverage of the English Open semi-final between Mark Allen and Luca Brecel.

O’Sullivan was asked if a tournament where everyone had to play with their opposite hand was to take place, who would win and who would have the highest break.

The 47-year-old wasted no time in replying.

“I’d win. And who would get the highest break? I’d probably get about a 134 or something.”

White agreed, adding: “There would be no race, no race at all. Jack Lisowski can play a little bit, but there would be no race.”

O’Sullivan continued: “Maybe they should have a tournament where everyone has to play with their opposite hand. Not a lot of players do it now.

“Get rid of the Shootout and have a competition with opposite hands.”

White admitted that he couldn’t play with his opposite hand, but added: “In my day, that was an insult. When he [O’Sullivan] did it against Alain Robidoux, they thought: ‘what’s happening here?’ But it’s such an advantage and it’s legal.”

This was followed by a much more serious question: will O’Sullivan win his eighth World Championship next year?

But O’Sullivan wasn’t giving anything away.

“I don’t know, I’ll let you know on May 2,” he replied.

White offered a word of advice to his friend, saying: “Has he got it in him? He’s obviously got to put the work in, he knows that.”

The next question was whether O’Sullivan and White believed there will be another player in snooker to dominate like Stephen Henry, Steve Davis, and indeed O’Sullivan himself, had managed in years gone by, or if the prizes will be shared amongst the game’s top players.

“Shared,” O’Sullivan said simply.

Again, White agreed. “Shared, for sure. Yeah, too many good players,” he said.

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