Ronnie gambles in bid to ferrule world

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN took an emergency trip to a cue doctor last night in a desperate bid to keep his World Championship alive.

- By Shane MacDermott

The Rocket, 49, was playing with a brand new cue with a titanium ferrule for the first time in his career in his tilt to win a record eighth Crucible crown.

Ahead of his semi-final against Zhao Xintong, the fifth seed branded his cue as “awful” and said he needed a new tip and ferrule.

And after finishing the first session of his 33-frame clash with the Chinese hotshot locked at 4-4, the seven-time champion took his cue to a local repairman to return to a favoured brass ferrule.