World Championship stars ‘don’t like’ Ronnie O’Sullivan decision | Other | Sport

Six-time World Championship winner Steve Davis claims snooker stars don’t like that Ronnie O’Sullivan plays with a different type of chalk compared to the majority of modern players. O’Sullivan uses Triangle chalk which is green in colour and has been a staple in snooker for decades, but the majority of professionals use Taom chalk to avoid unwanted kicks.

O’Sullivan’s second round opponent in the World Snooker Championships, John Higgins, was vocal with his unhappiness about the use of Triangle chalk last year in his win over Xiao Guodong. Higgins currently finds himself trailing O’Sullivan 9-7 but enjoyed a strong finish to their session on Sunday.

Snooker great Stephen Hendry explained on punditry duty: “I said last night in commentary that John needs to be patient, have good patience in this match because we have said a few times and it has been said that Ronnie uses the old-fashioned chalk that leaves a lot of marks on the table, marks on the cushions, which if the ball hit it can (cause) big bounces.

“The table can play heavy and the players are not used to that because everyone else uses the other chalk where there’s no marks, no bounces, no kicks.

“He has got to be patient, John, there were a couple of times he sort of got bounces and was a wry smile was on his face and he would wipe the table and stuff.

“He has got to deal with it and John is experienced enough to do that but he has got to he patient.”

Steve Davis then added: “What happened (was) in a very short space of time a new chalk came on the market that certainly did not have as many shots where you would get a bad contact where chalk was stuck to the cue ball and then it was in the way between when it hit the object ball.

“Nearly all the players adopted it because it is far better, you don’t have to have a cue ball cleaned, it doesn’t lay on cushions, it doesn’t lay on the cloth.

“The ball doesn’t pick up the residue chalk on the cloth even. But Ronnie decided to stay with the old one, the one he knew. I don’t think I really know the total answer (why).

“Initially, I think there was a certain more grip that the old chalk gave you but that has been proven to be wrong now because the new batch of the new chalk is better. It may be for commercial reasons, we don’t really know.”

Discussing the impact it has on O’Sullivan’s opponents, Davis continued: “It doesn’t affect him, but it does affect some of the other players, they don’t like the fact he plays with the old chalk.”