Ronnie O’Sullivan lands Christmas TV date as star-studded snooker line-up revealed

Ronnie O’Sullivan is set to give snooker fans a late Christmas present after signing up for a star-studded tournament being shown live on free-to-air TV.

The Rocket will play in the British Seniors Open in Derby on December 27 and 28, joining some of the biggest names in the sport for the two-day festive event.

As reported by Totally Snookered, Channel 5 will screen the tournament live as O’Sullivan, Jimmy White, Ken Doherty and a host of other familiar faces battle it out at Vaillant Live.

It will be another rare chance for UK fans to see O’Sullivan in action after the seven-time world champion dramatically cut back his appearances on British soil in recent seasons.

And the 50-year-old arrives as the man to beat after making a spectacular start to life on the seniors circuit.

O’Sullivan entered the World Seniors Championship for the first time earlier this year and promptly won it, producing five century breaks as he demolished Joe Perry 10-4 in the Crucible final.

Now Perry will get another crack at him in Derby, where he is defending the British Seniors Open title he won by beating Jimmy White last year.

The eight-player knockout tournament will also feature former world champion Doherty, former UK champion Stephen Maguire, former World Seniors champion Mark Davis and 12-time women’s world champion Reanne Evans.

One final player is still to be announced.

O’Sullivan said he was looking forward to returning to Derby, a city he regularly visited during the earlier years of his career.

The appearance comes during an unusual chapter in the career of one of snooker’s most successful players.

O’Sullivan has won a record 41 ranking titles and seven world championships, but has gone more than two-and-a-half years without winning a ranking trophy on the main professional circuit.

He now lives in Dubai and has increasingly picked and chosen which events he plays, meaning appearances in front of British crowds have become much less frequent.

His seniors career, however, has already proved rather more productive.

As well as his Crucible triumph, O’Sullivan won the John Virgo Trophy in Ireland earlier this year before taking the inaugural Snooker 900 Global Championship in Reading.

World Seniors Snooker chairman Jason Francis said more than four million people watched last year’s British Seniors Open on Channel 5, with organisers expecting O’Sullivan’s arrival to give this year’s tournament an even bigger festive boost.

The British Seniors Open takes place at Vaillant Live in Derby on Sunday, December 27 and Monday, December 28, with the action shown live on Channel 5.