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Ronnie O'Sullivan called out for actions after epic Judd Trump 147 in Hong Kong


Ronnie O’Sullivan has been criticised by snooker fans for failing to properly congratulate rival Judd Trump, after the Ace potted a maximum break. The pair met in Hong Kong at the All-Star Challenge for an exhibition match, with Trump carrying over his strong form from the weekend, where he lifted the World Open title in China.

Both O’Sullivan and Trump were among the star-studded list of players involved at the All-Star Challenge in Hong Kong, with the two giants of the sport facing off. While the auditorium wasn’t packed out, there was a noticeable sense of excitement when Trump potted the final ball to complete an impressive 147 break.

As the punters rose to give Trump a standing ovation, O’Sullivan remained seated, instead showing his support with a subtle clap on the side of his chair. But, some snooker fans have been left frustrated by the Rocket, who they believe should’ve made more of an effort to congratulate Trump.

X user @147Magtr shared a clip of the moment Trump wrapped up his maximum break and captioned it: “Judd Trump made a maximum at [the] Hong Kong All-Star Challenge and who do you think didn’t shake his hand?”

While @TC_UTD chimed in with: “Hates being upstaged, it’s just poor because Judd has been nothing but respectful towards him especially after he won his seventh World [Championship title].”

And @Alla7417 offered their assessment by saying: “Ronnie himself does not make maximums in principle, because even the weakest players constantly make them, so Ronnie considers the maximum to be an ordinary century, HE will never shake hands with anyone.”

However, plenty of people were quick to defend O’Sullivan by pointing out that the 48-year-old could be seen clapping Trump’s achievement, while also highlighting it was only an exhibition match and there wasn’t actually anything significant on the line. Nevertheless, it hasn’t been an enjoyable trip to eastern Asia for O’Sullivan though, as he crashed out of the World Open just a couple of days ago at the last-16 stage following a defeat to Iranian Hossein Vafaei.

“Vafaei obviously played better today and deserved this victory,” O’Sullivan said after the loss. “Today, my performance was much worse than that of my opponent. My long stand was unable to put pressure on my opponent, and the game was not as close as the score.”

There were contrasting fortunes in the Trump camp though, as the 34-year-old cruised past hometown hero Ding Junhui during the final held in the Jiangxi province of China. The world number two raced to a 7-2 lead, before running out the eventual 10-4 winner, with the victory enough to take his prize money for the season over the £1million mark. What’s more, as it was Trump’s 28th ranking title win, he has now drawn level alongside Steve Davis, with only three snooker players boasting more to their names.

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