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Northern Ireland Open 2023: World No. 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan withdraws due to ‘medical reasons’
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Published 20/10/2023 at 16:20 GMT+1
Ronnie O'Sullivan will not feature at the Northern Ireland Open in Belfast after pulling out on medical grounds. He joins Luca Brecel, Mark Selby, John Higgins, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Ali Carter as the big-name absentees to miss this week’s event, with Mark Allen primed for a third consecutive title and a hat-trick on home soil. O’Sullivan has been replaced by Rory McLeod.
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World No. 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan will miss the Northern Ireland Open in Belfast after he withdrew for “medical reasons”.
O’Sullivan was due to begin his tournament with an opening match against American Ahmed Aly Elsayed on Sunday.
In his most recent outing, the 47-year-old was stunned by 41st-ranked Lyu Haotian in the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open in China.
O’Sullivan, a three-time Northern Ireland Open runner-up in 2018, 2019 and 2020, has been replaced by Rory McLeod.
"Ronnie O’Sullivan has pulled out of the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open for medical reasons.," read a statement on the WST website. "O’Sullivan was due to meet Ahmed Aly Elsayed during the evening session of the opening day of the tournament in Belfast, Sunday October 22nd.
"He has been replaced by the highest available player from the Q School ranking list, Rory McLeod."
The Englishman battled with an elbow injury which caused him discomfort during the English Open earlier this month.
With Luca Brecel, Mark Selby, and John Higgins already absent from the tournament, O’Sullivan’s withdrawal comes as a huge blow for tournament organisers.
The trio, alongside Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Ali Carter, had planned to skip the Belfast tournament in favour of playing in an exhibition event in Macau.
However, the tournament was rescheduled to December and all five players failed to enter this week’s tournament, which runs from Sunday, October 22 to Sunday, October 29 at the Waterfront Hall.
With a cluster of high-profile players absent, world No. 4 Mark Allen has a great opportunity to claim his third successive title on home soil.
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