Ronnie O’Sullivan, 48, reveals dream of becoming world champion in different sport after retiring from snooker
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN wants to launch a career in pool after he finally decides to hang up his snooker cue.
The 48-year-old has won a record 23 Triple Crown titles and now dreams of becoming the world champion of Chinese 8-Ball pool.
O’Sullivan opened up about his potential future career ahead of this week’s Shanghai Masters.
He told Shanghai Let’s Meet: “Any cue sport fascinates me, so I’m looking at how popular Chinese 8-Ball is in China now. It’s huge, it’s massive.
“Obviously, I want to finish my snooker first – but I’ve got one eye on it maybe.
“I don’t know when – three, four, five, six years, I don’t know when that will be. But definitely when I finish snooker it’ll be something I want to go into and play some pool.
“Maybe give it a go and see if I can win the World Championships and be the best pool player in the world. That would be a challenge.”
O’Sullivan has even began thinking of the logistics ahead of his possible career change.
He said before the UK Championships last year: “I can’t keep playing snooker against the young guys, getting up for it, match-in-match-out. I don’t want to be playing just for the sake of it.
“I want to keep playing for the next 10-15 years, earning a living, having a good time. China’s a place I like to go, obviously it’s a very popular sport out there.
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“But I’ll just have to see what my sponsors are like because at the moment they’re sponsoring me as a snooker player. I’m trying to see if they’ll sponsor me as a pool player.”
It is not just the chance to be a world champion of two sports which could be tempting O’Sullivan into a switch, with pool a lucrative business.
The winner of the World Heyball Championships earlier this year pocketed a whopping £567,000.
Inside Ronnie's colourful career
FROM his lightning breaks to blasts at officials, Ronnie O'Sullivan has fired snooker into the spotlight.
The seven-time world champion makes almost as big an impact away from the table as on it.
O’Sullivan has three children – two daughters and a son.
And the Rocket’s on-off relationship with British actress Laila Rouass has also hit the headlines.
He has opened up on battles with his weight and addiction.
While the controversial cueist reckons he wasted NINE YEARS of his career by partying too hard.
Despite being worth £14million, O’Sullivan is renowned for his love of canal boats and snubbing flashy cars.
His rivalry with fellow star Judd Trump has been branded ‘snooker’s greatest feud’.
And Ali Carter had his nose knocked out of joint by the Rocket in their infamous ‘Snotgate’ row.
Check out all our latest Ronnie O’Sullivan articles.