Ronnie O’Sullivan given bizarre gift alongside £250,000 prize money for winning Riyadh World Masters of Snooker

RONNIE O'SULLIVAN was handed an unorthodox gift after winning the World Masters of Snooker in Saudi Arabia.

O'Sullivan, 48, defeated world champion Luca Brecel 5-2 in the Riyadh final on Wednesday.

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The Rocket was handed £250,000 for winning the contest, but failed to land the £400,000 prize for potting a would-be world record 167 break with a new golden ball rule.

However, no one managed to seal the finish.

As a result, during the trophy presentation, Turki Al-Sheikh - the chair of the country's General Entertainment Authority - said the prize pot would be doubled to £800,000 for next years tournament.

It was then announced O'Sullivan would have a snooker academy in Riyadh named after him.

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Turki Al-Sheikh said: "Today in this competition nobody had the golden ball. For the next competition, we will double it for $1million (£800,000).

"And secondly, in Saudi Arabia we are honoured with Ronnie O'Sullivan to have an academy by his name."

O'Sullivan was full of praise for the tournament, despite aiming a death stare into the crowd as noise emanated from spectators, and even called for event to be handed a 10-year contract.

He said: "It’s been a fantastic tournament and a brilliant venue.

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"It’s been a long time since we’ve come to the Middle East, 1994. It’s been far too long.

"The culture here is fantastic. We are so grateful for this fantastic tournament.

"These are the tournaments you really want to play in. One table, great crowd, great atmosphere. The music was there between frames.

"It was like a rave. It was like going back 25 years to when I was young. It just feels like a really nice festival.

"Riyadh Season for sport, you’ve got the boxing at the weekend at F1, it’s great.

"You want to make the sport as big as you can make it. Saudi is a powerhouse, if anyone can inject something into snooker it will be the guys who put this event on this week."

The victory was the 79th title of O'Sullivan's professional career.

He is set to play at the World Open 2024, with his opening match against Michael White taking place on March 19.

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