Snooker: Ronnie O'Sullivan today admitted he
has struggled to cope with the furore
surrounding the lewd comments and sexual innuendos he made
during a news conference in China.
The 32-year-old has volunteered to withdraw from tournaments if anyone has been offended by his antics following his loss to Marco Fu in the China Open in Beijing last month when he brandished a hand-held microphone suggestively.
World Snooker boss Rodney Walker said O'Sullivan acted "unacceptably" and has referred the case to the game's disciplinary committee.
Speaking after his 10-5 first round victory over Chinese teenager Liu Chuang in the 888.com World Championship in Sheffield, O'Sullivan said: "I regret that it happened and it's been a great embarrassment to me personally.
"But I just don't seem to get how my reputation has been damaged in China, that's not what I've heard from the people I've spoken to.
"It doesn't seem to be the case but if it was, I would not attend tournaments out of respect. I would withdraw from events if anyone has been offended because that's never been my position.
"It's been really hard the last three weeks to concentrate on my game and it still is, because I feel that certain things which have been said are just not true.
"It's always my intention to deliver the goods on the table but you have to be in the right frame of mind and I would have much rather have had this situation sorted out before coming to this event.
"If anyone has a problem then I will quite happily take my punishment and walk away. I'll voluntarily pull out of tournaments if that's what it takes because I don't want to bring this game down. I love snooker.
"If I get a letter from the Chinese sponsor saying we don't want you playing in these events, I will step down, but that's not the vibe I get. The same with sponsors in this country, if they decide they don't want me in the game, just tell me.
"I'd be quite happy to walk away and find something else to do. I wouldn't want to be somewhere where I thought I was causing trouble.
"If I'm that much of a problem, that bad an advert for the game and I'm that awful, then okay, but I don't really see it like that."
Resuming against 17-year-old Liu with just a slender 5-4 lead, O'Sullivan won three of the afternoon's first four frames to banish any danger of the biggest shock in the game's history.
O'Sullivan was in a relaxed mood, playing several shots left-handed and then deliberately fouling on the last red with the 11th frame already secure by sprawling across the table with both feet off the floor.
Liu pulled a frame back but O'Sullivan took the 13th frame with a break of 65 and the next frame as well, despite breaking down on a break of 56 as he attempted an outrageous positional shot to keep alive his chance of a 147 maximum.
And the Rocket duly completed victory in the next, clearing up the last red and the colours to take the frame 70-59.
The second round was already under way on the other table, Mark King and Peter Ebdon locked at 3-3 in the first of three sessions.
King, who defeated last year's beaten finalist Mark Selby in the first round, led three times but Ebdon typically battled back to level in what was already shaping up to be a tight affair.