RONNIE O’SULLIVAN is celebrating a shoe-turn from English Open organisers – after fearing he would have to pull out due to his sprained ankle.
The five-time world champion fumed in tweets yesterday that World Snooker would not let him play in special footwear.
But now the sport’s rulers say the Rocket will be exempted from “standard dress code protocol” to “help manage the effects of an ankle injury”.
O’Sullivan, 41, wore trainers for his 4-1 first-round win over Zhang Anda.
But then yesterday afternoon he fired off two frustrating tweets when he feared organisers were getting tough..
He posted: “Being told by world snooker that if I don’t wear a black training shoe tomorrow I can’t play #sprainedankle.”
And then straight away he followed up with: “Looks like I’ll have to pull out of the English open cause someone’s not happy I’m wearing a trainer due to a sprained ankle.”
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But today he tweeted to thanks a sports company for helping him find comfortable trainers offering “great support for my ankle”.
O’Sullivan will now take on Mark Davis in round two of the 128-man event in Barnsley.
The tournament winner can land a £1million bonus – if they go on to win all the other Home Nations events, in Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff.
The sport’s chiefs added in their statement: “World Snooker has a dress code for all tournaments.
“But where players are injured they are given the opportunity to demonstrate medical reasons to show why they cannot adhere to certain parts of the dress code.”
"Each case is dealt with individually. Ronnie O'Sullivan has been given an exemption to use footwear at the English Open which helps manage the effects of an ankle injury."
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