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O'Sullivan in the dock

Image: O'Sullivan: under investigation

Ronnie O'Sullivan could face disciplinary action after making lewd comments during a press conference at the China Open.

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World Snooker reviewing video of Englishman's remarks

Ronnie O'Sullivan could face disciplinary action after making lewd comments during a press conference at the Honghe Industrial China Open. World Snooker, the sport's governing body, is reviewing video footage in which O'Sullivan makes sexual innuendoes and suggestive comments in front of the assembled media in Beijing. The two-time world champion was speaking in the aftermath of his 5-4 first-round defeat to Marco Fu. While a Chinese translator was taking questions from the press, O'Sullivan looked bored and then brandished a hand-held microphone suggestively. He then made a further sexual reference and began laughing. A World Snooker spokesperson said: "We have received the footage and it is under review." It is not the Englishman's first brush with the snooker authorities. In May 2007 he was fined £21,000 for walking out of his Maplin UK Championship quarter-final with Stephen Hendry. Nine years prior to that O'Sullivan was fined £30,000 for assaulting a snooker official, and in 1998 he tested positive for cannabis and was subsequently stripped of his Irish Masters title.