Snooker: O'Sullivan gestures were 'unacceptable'

Ronnie O'Sullivan will face disciplinary action for lewd comments and gestures he made in a post-match press conference at the China Open this week after footage of the incident was viewed yesterday by Sir Rodney Walker, the head of game's governing body, who described it as "unacceptable" and then apologised to the people of China on O'Sullivan's behalf.

O'Sullivan, 32, world champion in 2001 and 2004, looked bored and mischievously relaxed in turn at Wednesday's conference, after a first-round defeat to Marcu Fu. In footage now available on YouTube (link below), he audibly asks at one point: "Fuck me, how many questions are they going to ask?"

But the major controversy surrounds jokey remarks in reference to his microphone. Walker, chairman of World Snooker, arrived in Beijing yesterday and watched the footage. "I would like to send my apologies to the people of China for any offence that may have been caused," he said. "Ronnie O'Sullivan's behaviour was unacceptable."

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUJUEgRZBMY