‘I help players I like’ - Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals who he wants to win World Snooker Championship

Snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan has had his say on who he’d like to see reign supreme at the Crucible this bank holiday weekend.

The seven-time winner, who is regarded by many as one of the all-time greats of the sport, was defeated by John Higgins in a tightly contested round-of-16 encounter earlier in the competition.

However, he’s taken one of the remaining contenders under his wing and says it makes him happy to see him do well.

That player is Wu Yize, who is hoping to become the second consecutive Chinese player to win the World Snooker Championship after fellow countrymen Zhao Xintong became the first ever Asian winner last year.

Yize is competing at the Crucible for just the third time in his career having previously been beaten in the first round stage of both of those tournaments. Still only 22, he’s arguably yet to reach his prime, but has already shown signs that he could be a real star in the sport.

In an interview with Wales Online, O’Sullivan refers to Yize as a phenomenal talent. He said: "I'd help any player. I help players I like. If I think they've got potential and I think I could guide him in the right way. A bit like what Ray [Reardon] done for me.”

Wu Yize has beaten Hossein Vafaei, Mark Selby and Lei Peifan to get to the last four and has been one of the standout performers in the competition.

O’Sullivan added: "With Wu Yize, I said: 'I think you need to improve in this area. I'm convinced of that, if you don't I'm convinced you're just going to keep getting what you got. Do you want to be a champion?'

"And he was like: 'Yeah, yeah.' You might not want to do this, but if you want to be a champion, you're going to have to do this no matter how good you are because he's the phenomenal talent.”

O’Sullivan added: "It's been nice to see him take that on board and whether it's helped him or not, I don't know, but when he wins and does well, it makes me happy. If I felt like I could add that to a player, I would. “

Yize adds that he’s delighted to be offered advice from someone of O’Sullivan’s status in the sport, he said: “We met a few times during the practice. We messaged each other occasionally to talk about matches. I really appreciate his support."