Ronnie O’Sullivan’s return to snooker is set to see him face the women’s world no.1 in China.
The snooker legend hasn’t played since falling to a shock 2-4 first round defeat to China’s He Guoqiang at the English Open last month.
O’Sullivan hasn’t returned to the table since his English Open exitGetty
O’Sullivan then withdrew from both the British Open and Wuhan Open due to reported ‘medical reasons’.
However, the 48-year-old is on course to return to the table in November at the 2024 International Championship in Nanjing, China.
The draw has been made and O’Sullivan faces a first round qualifying match against the record-breaking 24-year-old Mink Nutcharut.
Nutcharut is the current world no.1 in the women’s rankings and is the only known female to ever score a maximum break of 147.
The Thai star won the World Women’s Snooker Under-21 Championship six years ago at just 18 years old.
She then claimed World Women’s Snooker Championship victory in 2022 and reached the final earlier this year.
Nutcharut was given a two-year professional tour card after finishing top of the women’s world rankings at the end of the 2023/24 season.
She was therefore eligible for this year’s International Championship and will be the first ever female opponent for O’Sullivan.
Their first round qualifying match has been held over to the main arena and is due to be played on November 3.
Nutcharut has already played against a male opponent as she won the 2022 World Mixed Doubles with Neil Robertson, beating Mark Selby and Rebecca Kenna.
O’Sullivan is set to face Nutcharut, his first ever female snooker opponentGetty
However, she will be a career-first for O’Sullivan and victory would see him face Guoqiang once again in the second round, with the tournament’s total prize fund sitting at £825,000.
The 41-time title winner and joint-record seven-time world champion recently told talkSPORT that success as players get older depends on whether or not they still maintain their love for the game.
“It depends where you’re at with it,” he said. “Stephen Hendry [fellow seven-time world champion], he was such a winner, that when he wasn’t winning, he found it really difficult.
“I think Steve Davis was the same, Jimmy White seemed to be like, ‘I don’t really care about winning or losing, I just love the game.’ So if you love the sport then obviously [you can keep playing].
“But if it’s important to you that you’re winning and competing at the top end of the game, as you get older, inevitably these youngsters come along and they’re really fantastic players. So it’s hard for some of the older established players to keep going in many ways because these youngsters are very, very good.”
O’Sullivan then hinted a potential retirement timeline to BBC Radio 4 via The Independent: “I think I’ve got maybe, if I want it, three really good years. That depends on if I’m fully devoted to it and I’m kind of like, ‘Snooker is all I’m going to do for the next three years’. Which I can do.
“But it’s really hard to do when I’m sort of like, ‘I want to do a few days with Jimmy White as a pundit, I want to go and do a few exhibitions, I want to do a few shows,’ because they’re fun.
“I can still perform, I can still be a top eight player doing that but to fully give yourself the best opportunities it’s about being totally on it, you know. It’s whether I’m prepared to do that.”
