SNOOKER: World champion Ronnie O'Sullivan has accused snooker chiefs of lacking "compassion" and warned he could still retire if his concerns are ignored.

O’Sullivan is concerned by an increasingly heavy schedule of tournaments, and has claimed on several occasions he feels “blackmailed” into playing, because missing any event could see his ranking fall or a fine imposed.

O’Sullivan has called for “a bit of slack”, so that occasionally missing events does not prove costly in the long term.

“It would be sad for me to walk away from snooker, and I do think it would be a loss for snooker because I still think I’ve got a lot to give. But it needs to be sustainable, it needs to be fair,” he said.