Ronnie O'Sullivan dubbed 'the ultimate athlete' after shock loss to Stuart Bingham

“I'm not that eager to win games this way.”

Ronnie O'Sullivan has been hailed as the “ultimate sportsman” following a bizarre incident following his shock defeat to Stuart Bingham at the Snooker World Championship.

Bingham, the 2015 champion, won the quarter-finals 13-10 when an incident occurred between O'Sullivan and referee Desislava Bozilova in the 12th game.

Problems arose when the seven-time world champion repeatedly asked the referee to reposition the black ball because he believed it was rolling away from its original position due to a small collision on the table, allowing him to pocket it by mistake .

“You're absolutely right to ask for it to be repositioned, but I can also see it rolling,” Bozhilova said to O'Sullivan during the exchange. “But this time it stayed.”

O'Sullivan then chose to play it safe and did not try to pocket the ball, earning a standing ovation from the crowd.

BBC commentator Neil Robertson also called it “the greatest display of sportsmanship I have ever seen”.

Ronnie O'Sullivan dubbed 'the ultimate athlete' after shock loss to Stuart Bingham

However, events took another turn after the game, with O'Sullivan's explanation running counter to what initially seemed like pure sportsmanship.

The seven-time world champion told Eurosport: “To be honest, some of the referees, I thought they had already given it for me, so I just wanted to prove to her that she was wrong.

“I didn't feel too good about scoring the goal after that, but I just wanted to make that clear. The point was clear. I wasn't that keen to win the game in this way, so once the principle was set, I could sleep at night ”