Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals new friendship with Hollywood legend and snooker fan Jackie Chan – ‘He’s a lovely guy’
Snooker GOAT Ronnie O’Sullivan booked his spot in the last 32 of the International Championship in Nanjing on Monday with a 6-2 win over He Guoqiang. The seven-time world champion will next face Pang Junxu, but he is already making plans for a lucrative exhibition event in the Chinese resort city of Macau over the festive period. He is set to face Jack Lisowski on Christmas Day.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has described avid snooker fan Jackie Chan as “a lovely guy” after the iconic Hollywood actor and director helped promote the seven-time world champion’s forthcoming trip to Macau for an exhibition event.
Hong Kong-born Chan – who has appeared in popular movies such as Rush Hour, Police Story, Shanghai Noon and The Karate Kid – played a few shots with the 41-time ranking event winner in the resort city.
O’Sullivan is set to face Jack Lisowski on Christmas Day at the Macau Masters, with world champion Kyren Wilson, world No. 1 Judd Trump, Ding Junhui, Marco Fu, Stuart Bingham, Jak Jones and Si Jiahui also in the starting line-up at Wynn Palace (December 25-28).
“We have spoken a few times on the phone, and we have mutual friends,” O’Sullivan told reporters about meeting Chan. “This was the first time we had met. He’s a lovely guy.”
Chan has previously played a few frames with 1997 world champion Ken Doherty in Hong Kong.
“I was invited to have dinner with him at a charity night, then we went to sing karaoke together, then played snooker and I showed him some trick shots,” said Doherty.
“He is great company, just the way you see him on screen. And he loves a sing-along, just like the Irish.”
Meanwhile, O’Sullivan has been discussing his popularity in the sport as a natural successor to fellow crowd-pleasers Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins and Jimmy ‘Whirlwind’ White as the ‘People’s Champion’.
“I’ve won a lot of big titles, I think that’s what people like, to win the big tournaments, holding all the records,” O’Sullivan told WST.
“As well as my style of play, I’ve managed to entertain the fans, had great support a bit like Jimmy White. But had the titles to back it up as well.
“Anyone who thought I wasn’t a winner, I’ve got them in my camp and people that just want to see really good snooker, I’ve got them in my camp as well.
“If you asked 100 snooker fans who they’d want to watch probably the majority of them would say me, because I pretty much tick every box there is to tick as a sportsman.”
O’Sullivan continues his quest for victory at the International Championship against Pang Junxu at 6:30am GMT on Tuesday morning,