World snooker champion Ronnie O'Sullivan fined £6,000 for Twitter comments
Reigning world snooker champion Ronnie O'Sullivan has been fined £6,000 by snooker's ruling body for Twitter comments.
Last Updated: 22/01/14 2:19pm
O'Sullivan, who landed his fifth Masters title on Sunday night at Alexandra Palace, was charged with breaching the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association's members rules.
The WPBSA said that its disciplinary committee assessed the claim from O'Sullivan in September - later retracted - that referred to fixing, a "suggestion he used pills that helped his performance", and a further "offensive" tweet.
In a statement, the WPBSA said: "The WPBSA work hard to maintain what is widely considered to be one of the strongest anti-corruption units of any sport as well as having strong anti-doping policies which involve robust testing schedules.
"The WPBSA disciplinary committee considered that the comments that were made undermined these efforts and were damaging to the image of the sport. Such behaviour will not be tolerated by the WPBSA."
O'Sullivan was also ordered to pay £1,000 towards the cost of the hearing and was fined £1,000 and warned for his "abusive, insulting and disrespectful" behaviour to a referee during the German Masters qualifying tournament in Barnsley on December 12.
