BBC SPORT | Other Sport... | Snooker (original) (raw)

O'Sullivan has been in top form at the Waterfront Hall

Ronnie O'Sullivan continued his blistering form at the Northern Ireland Trophy with a 6-0 demolition of Dominic Dale in Saturday's first semi-final.

The Englishman, who hammered another Welshman, Ryan Day, 5-1 on Friday, finished off Dale in 53 minutes - the quickest ever best-of-11 frame match.

"I'm sacrificing match play because it's all about getting bums on seats," said O'Sullivan.

China's Ding Junhui beat Stephen Lee of England 6-1 in the other semi-final.

O'Sullivan said he has had enough of long matches that he believes are driving away the public.

	I'm in the business of entertainment, and that's what I want to do

"I'm going to play like that all the time," he said. "Playing like that has given me the enthusiasm to play. I want to make a difference and help to make snooker a big sport again.

"I don't want to be the person blamed for bringing snooker down. Something needs to be done so that people don't want to turn their TVs off."

And O'Sullivan also revealed he has considered staging his own tournament.

"I want to put my own tournament together," he said. "It's all about entertainment and we need to get away from all this long, drawn out play.

"I've been talking to a few people and we all need to get our heads together to make things happen.

"This year's final should be two or three hours long, and not spread over two sessions. We should shorten the matches.

"People have got be prepared to change because it's all about compulsive viewing. I'm in the business of entertainment, and that's what I want to do."

The 19-year-old Ding, who is chasing his third ranking event title, rattled in breaks of 72, 81, 67 and 73 to set up an intriguing best-of-17 showdown.

"I like to play Ronnie. He's a good player," he said. "I have to forget he's my hero and try to win. I just want to play better every match.

"I don't care about the rankings. Hopefully it is a fast final."

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites