Ronnie O’Sullivan will not play at the International Championship in Nanjing, withdrawing from the event after he was scheduled to play a qualifier in Leicester.
The International Championship is one of the biggest events in China, carrying a top prize of £175,000 and last year saw Wu Yize beat John Higgins in the final, Wu’s first ranking title before becoming world champion in May.
The tournament returned to the calendar in 2023 after the COVID pandemic and O’Sullivan has played in the three editions since.
The seven-time world champion comes in at the same qualifying round as everyone else, which for most players is played in the UK, whereas a handful of opening round matches are held over to the main arena stage.
That has been the case for O’Sullivan previously, but not this season as he was due to play Louis Heathcote at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester this month to book a spot in China.
World and defending champ Wu Yize has his qualifying match held over, as does world number one Zhao Xintong.
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The local promoter was afforded one pick for another held over match and opted for Chinese legend Ding Junhui, who will play Sahil Nayyar in Nanjing.
O’Sullivan has now withdrawn from the tournament, with amateur player Joshua Thomond coming in to replace him in the draw and face Heathcote.
The Rocket reached the semi-finals of the International Championship in 2023 but his last two visits have ended in the second round, losing to Pang Junxu and Jack Lisowski.
The world number 14 spoke about his playing plans for this season after defeat to Higgins at the Crucible in April, saying he would only compete if he was paid to do so.
‘Any tournament I go to, they all know they have to get the cheque book out, so wherever I go that’s standard,’ O’Sullivan said. ‘If that stops then I stop.’
The 50-year-old is expected to be back in action at the Shenzhen Open later this month when his opening round match is held over to China.
He is due to take on Jiang Jun on September 28 in the tournament that was the Xi’an Grand Prix but has been moved and renamed.
The draws for Chinese events can be a bit complicated as they also feature local wildcards, drawn to face professional players.
At the International Championship three of these wildcards play a pre-qualifying round at the venue, drawn to take on Steven Hallworth, Liu Wenwei and Michal Szubarczyk.
The other wildcard goes straight into the first round and takes on Pang Junxu.
If Szubarczyk wins his pre-qualifier he faces Jackson Page, Liu will get Judd Trump and Hallworth play Fan Zhengyi in the first round proper.
All make sense? Hopefully.