The first day of Lingfield’s Winter Million Festival has been cancelled due to a frozen track.

Officials inspected at 8.30am on Wednesday ahead of Friday’s jumps card, which was set to be headlined by the Grade Two Download The Racing App Lightning Novices’ Chase.

Despite covering the whole track with fleece last Saturday, there are frozen areas under the covers and with temperatures not forecast to rise sufficiently before the meeting, the seven-race card has been cancelled.

The Winter Million is a three-day fixture, with Saturday’s card featuring Flat racing on the all-weather track and Sunday seeing jumps action, including the richly-endowed Fleur De Lys Chase.

That card will now be further enhanced, with the British Horseracing Authority announcing the Lightning will be rescheduled for Sunday, with original entries standing but new declarations to be made on Friday morning.

There will be no National Hunt action in Britain on Thursday with Ludlow abandoned due to a frozen track following an inspection on Wednesday morning. The other scheduled meetings at Wincanton and Newcastle were cancelled earlier in the week.

Friday’s card at Market Rasen is also now subject to a precautionary check at noon on Thursday, but Wednesday’s Southwell jumps fixture did get the go-ahead following a morning check.

Wednesday’s meeting at Southwell goes ahead as planned after the track passed a precautionary inspection.

The course was raceable under the fleece covers on Tuesday, but officials felt it prudent to check conditions on raceday morning due to the prospect of freezing overnight temperatures.

An inspection was planned for 8am but clerk of the course David Attwood was able to give the go-ahead an hour earlier than that.

Southwell is the only jumps card to take place on Wednesday, with Newbury already called off.

Emma Raducanu will hope to maintain the same air of calm that accompanied her grand slam comeback when she takes to the court again for her second-round match at the Australian Open.

The 19-year-old was handed a kind draw against American Shelby Rogers, who was playing her first competitive tennis for six months, but negotiated the hurdle with a minimum of fuss in a 6-3 6-2 victory.

Raducanu’s spell out of the sport following triple surgery has given a chance for the circus surrounding her to die down, while she has a new yet familiar coach in the shape of Nick Cavaday, who she first worked with as a 10-year-old.

 “I think it’s pretty calm now,” she said. “It’s nice to be with Nick. I’ve known him since I was a kid, feel very comfortable there. Just all aspects really of my life I feel like are calming down and settled.

“Obviously when you come back after eight months, have experienced three surgeries, you’re just really grateful to be able to move freely.”

The 21-year-old has not been beyond the second round at a slam since her US Open triumph in 2021 but has a good opportunity here against 94th-ranked Chinese player Wang Yafan, where she will again be on her favourite 1573 Arena.

Should she win that one, she could find herself facing fellow British star Katie Boulter, although she has a tough draw against the top Chinese player, 12th seed Zheng Qinwen.

There was nothing straightforward about Jack Draper’s first Melbourne win, the 22-year-old struggling physically against Marcos Giron before fighting back to triumph in five sets and then immediately vomiting into a bin at the side of the court.

He later said that he thought the issue was largely related to the stress of performing on the big stage, something he hopes will change with experience.

Raducanu, who grew up alongside Draper as the big hopes of British tennis, believes it is a double-edged sword, saying: “I’ve been in situations serving out the US Open, serving out sets at the US Open in probably the most high-pressure scenarios you’ll ever get.

“It really doesn’t get easier, to be honest. I think you always are going to have an element of nerves, always going to have that stress.

“I think, the more matches you play, the more comfortable you feel in those scenarios because the more experience you have to anchor and pull back your feelings from.

“I think just getting on a roll of matches helps. I think I deal with match scenarios pretty well. I keep my cool.”

Draper was optimistic of recovering well for his next match, where he will be reunited with American 14th seed Tommy Paul.

The pair have met twice before, both in Adelaide, with the most recent match coming last week, when Draper triumphed 6-1 6-4.

“He’s obviously a great player,” said Draper. “First tournament of the year, maybe guys aren’t quite finding their game yet. The match I played against him, I was really solid. I played great tennis. But obviously five sets is different.

“It seems like he does well in the slams pretty regularly. He’s always in the fourth round, or I think he made semis here last year. He’s obviously playing well and likes the conditions.

“I think it definitely does help, though, having played him twice and obviously won twice. If that was me, then I would be a bit more fearful. But it will be a tough match, and he’ll be wanting to get some revenge on me for sure.”

British number one Cameron Norrie also has revenge on his mind ahead of his second-round clash with Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri.

Their only previous meeting came on clay in Rome back in 2020, when Norrie won just four games.

The 28-year-old has moved his career on hugely since then but remains wary, saying: “He’s a young, talented player, lefty. I watched the end of his match. He played really well.

“He competes really well. Kind of plays a little bit similar to me. But it’s definitely going to be a tough match. Looking for some revenge from last time, because he beat me really easily.”

Joel Embiid had 41 points and 10 rebounds and got the best of fellow superstar Nikola Jokić in the Philadelphia 76ers’ 126-121 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday.

In a matchup of the last two NBA MVPs, Embiid had his 18th straight 30-point game, tying Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor for the sixth-longest streak in NBA history.

Jokic had 25 points and 19 rebounds, including 11 offensive boards.

Embiid converted a 3-point play with 5:30 remaining to extend Philadelphia’s lead to 118-113 and followed with his third 3-pointer of the game for an eight-point advantage.

Tyrese Maxey scored 25 points and Tobias Harris added 24 for the 76ers, who have won three straight after a three-game skid.

Michael Porter Jr. had 20 points and Jamal Murray finished with 17 and 10 assists for the Nuggets.

Suns stun Kings with furious comeback

Kevin Durant made two free throws with 1.8 seconds left and the Phoenix Suns stunned the Sacramento Kings with a game-ending 23-4 run in a 119-117 victory.

Grayson Allen matched a franchise record with 9 3-pointers and scored 29 points for the Suns, who faced a 113-96 deficit with just over five minutes to play.

Allen sparked the run with a 3-pointer and Durant hit a pair from deep before Eric Gordon drained consecutive 3-pointers to forge a 115-all tie.

Durant’s free throws with 30 seconds to play put the Suns ahead 117-115 but De’Aaron Fox tied it with a jumper with 19 seconds remaining. But he then fouled Durant, who was attempting a long jumper.

Domantas Sabonis notched his 11th triple-double of the season with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for Sacramento.

George scores 38 in Clippers’ win

Paul George scored 18 of his season-high 38 points in the fourth quarter and the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, 128-117 for their ninth win in 11 games.

Kawhi Leonard each added 16 points and Mason Plumlee had a season-best 14 in his first start of the season for the Clippers, who won their sixth straight at home.

Jalen Williams scored 25 points and Lu Dort and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander contributed 19 apiece as Oklahoma City dropped its second in a row after a 9-3 stretch.

England’s World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson announced his retirement from international rugby as a player on this day in 2004.

Johnson, who led England to their World Cup triumph in Australia the previous November, was 33 when he called time on an illustrious 10-year Test career.

He confirmed his widely-anticipated decision by releasing a statement during Leicester’s Heineken Cup win against Ulster at Welford Road on January 17, 2004.

Johnson said: “This has not been an easy decision to make. After talking to my family and friends – and after a lot of thought – I have decided to retire from international rugby with immediate effect.

“It has been a privilege to play for England, alongside some great players and with a great coaching staff.

“It has, of course, been a massive honour for me to captain my country.”

Johnson won 84 caps and led his country 39 times, including the thrilling extra-time World Cup final victory over Australia in Sydney and a Six Nations Championship Grand Slam the same year.

He was also the captain on two Lions tours, inspiring a 1997 Test series triumph in South Africa and being at the helm in Australia four years later.

On the domestic front, he skippered Leicester to 2001 and 2002 Heineken Cup triumphs and oversaw four Premiership title wins in as many seasons.

Fittingly, his final England appearance was the World Cup final when host nation and holders Australia were defeated in one of rugby union’s classic matches.

Under Leicester’s talisman second-row forward, England produced some unforgettable moments.

They beat Australia twice Down Under in the same year and defeated New Zealand away for the first time in 30 years before landing rugby union’s ultimate prize.

In the summer of 2008, Johnson was unveiled as England head coach.

During his tenure, the Red Rose won the 2011 Six Nations Championship, their first triumph since Johnson captained them to glory eight years earlier.

Johnson left his post later that year following England’s World Cup quarter-final exit to France in Auckland and has since worked as a television pundit.

Ryan McLeod snapped a tie with 3:05 left in the third period and the Edmonton Oilers rallied for their franchise-record 11th straight win Tuesday, 4-2 over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Goals by Auston Matthews – his league-leading 34th - and Morgan Rielly gave the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead before Leon Draisaitl got Edmonton on the board with 4:09 remaining in the second period.

Derek Ryan scored the equaliser early in the final period before McLeod whipped a close wrist shot past Martin Jones to give the Oilers their first lead of the night.

Evan Bouchard added an empty-net goal and Edmonton improved to 19-3-0 in its last 22 games.

Toronto has lost a season high-tying four in a row (0-3-1)

Connor scores in return as Jets rebound

Kyle Connor scored an empty-net goal after a 16-game absence and Mason Appleton ended a 25-game scoring drought to lift the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-2 win over the New York Islanders.

Gabriel Vilardi and Neil Pionk also scored and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 35 shots for the Jets, who bounced back after their eight-game winning streak and 14-game point run was halted with Sunday’s 2-0 loss to Philadelphia.

Winnipeg tied Vancouver with 62 points for the league lead.

Anders Lee had both goals as the Islanders dropped to 1-5-0 in their last six games.

Avalanche score 4 in 3rd period to beat Senators

Mikko Rantanen scored twice and the Colorado Avalanche tallied four unanswered goals in the third period in a 7-4 win over the Ottawa Senators.

Ottawa took a 4-3 lead into the third period, but Miles Wood scored 4:04 into the frame and Sam Malinski’s power-play goal 4:10 later put Colorado ahead for good.

Samuel Girard had three assists and Devon Toews added a goal and an assist as the Avalanche improved to 10-2-1 in their last 13 games.

Ridly Greig scored a pair of goals for Ottawa, which has dropped six of seven.

Teenage star Mirra Andreeva produced a stunning performance to demolish Ons Jabeur in the second round of the Australian Open for the loss of only two games.

The 16-year-old was devastated to lose in the girls’ singles final last year but quickly made an impression in the senior game with runs to the third round of the French Open and the fourth round of Wimbledon.

Andreeva counts Jabeur as her idol but she was utterly ruthless under the roof on Rod Laver Arena, defeating the sixth seed and two-time Wimbledon finalist 6-0 6-2 in just 54 minutes.

Jabeur could only smile in astonishment at some of the shots Andreeva played, while she celebrated like an underdog when she finally won a game at the start of the second set.

She was unable to stall Andreeva for long, though, with the young Russian branding it the best match she has played.

“In the first set I played really amazing tennis, I didn’t expect that from myself,” said the teenager.

“I’m happy I played with Ons. It was one of my dreams to play against her, because I really like the way she plays. It meant a lot, this match that I won.

“She’s so nice. Now, after the match, she came to me, she wished me luck. I just know that she is who she is and she never changes.”

Andreeva is projected to rise inside the top 35 as a result of her run here despite being severely restricted in how many tournaments she can play because of her age.

She is trying not to be in too much of a hurry, saying: “I don’t think that I achieve something incredible, so I have time still to do that. Sometimes when I’m lying in bed, I can overthink a little bit, but the next morning I’m totally fine.

“I’m 16. Why do I have to think about the rankings? I’m going a bit higher, and so my goal is to go higher and higher. I just try not to think about that and just to think about tennis.”

Another young Russian making waves in Melbourne is 20-year-old qualifier Maria Timofeeva, who is playing in the main draw of a grand slam for the first time and ended former champion Caroline Wozniacki’s comeback.

The Dane retired here four years ago and is back with her two young children in tow but she could not build on a strong start, losing 1-6 6-4 6-1.

Wozniacki has other responsibilities now but she could not hide her disappointment, saying: “I would like to say that in my mind I can just kind of brush it under the carpet but it sucks just as much.

“Losing now and losing back then, it doesn’t really change. As a competitor, you want to win everything. When you have the family here and you bring everyone, you want to win even more because you want to stay longer and not have to move around.

“I felt like this was my match to win, and I didn’t.”

Graham Coughlan was delighted after his Newport side secured a money-spinning FA Cup fourth-round tie with boyhood club Manchester United thanks to a 3-1 replay win at Eastleigh.

After drawing 1-1 at Rodney Parade last time around, both clubs knew the prize on offer at the Silverlake Stadium.

Top scorer Paul McCallum pulled the fifth-tier Spitfires level after Aaron Wildig’s early opener.

But James Clarke and Will Evans ended the hosts’ fairytale run as dreams of a fourth-round debut against Erik ten Hag’s Red Devils were crushed.

Coughlan’s side will earn £400,000 due to the tie being picked for television coverage.

And the Exiles manager said: “It’s a dream come true.

“Personally, for me and my family, it is a hell of an honour. We’re a big Man United family, we’ve followed them through thick and thin.

“We’ve been to FA Cup finals with them, but that’s a story for another day.

“It means a lot to the football club but it means a lot to this group of players. This group of players have absolutely run through brick walls and they’ve put their bodies on the line since they’ve come in. I’m really proud of them.

“Let’s take nothing away from Eastleigh. They have taken the scalp of a League One team here already in Reading. I’m pretty sure they would have fancied doing a League Two side tonight so fair play to them.

“I hope to see them push on from tonight and I hope that they can get into the play-offs.

“This is a really good club with some great people at it. I don’t want to be unfair to Eastleigh but I think there were a few more moments of quality from ourselves.”

After seeing his side’s fine run ended, Eastleigh boss Richard Hill labelled it a “punch in the face”.

He said: “This will be a memory which lives for a while.

“Over the time I’ve been at the club, the three stints, looking back I always said the one game I’d want back is the Grimsby game back and in time this will be a game I’d like back again.

“The cup run’s been great. It’s brought a lot of exposure to the football club, it’s brought the fans out. The fans were brilliant, they deserve a lot of credit because they stuck with us until the end.

“I know I divide opinion with a lot of them, but I’ve got to thank them. They were brilliant.

“To look back on the cup run, beating Reading was great. But the prize for this was massive and that’s what hurts the most; what the prize could have been. Not just for me, or the players, but for the media and being around those players who would have been coming here.

“It would have been a great occasion for everything around the football club.

“Newport were bright, sharper and a little bit more streetwise on the night. They deserved the victory, you’ve got to give credit to them.”

David Moyes dismissed the idea of the FA Cup being the best cup competition in the world as “quite ridiculous” following West Ham’s exit at Bristol City.

The Hammers lost their third-round replay 1-0 after Said Benrahma was sent off for reacting foolishly to Joe Williams’ 51st-minute challenge.

VAR was not in operation at Ashton Gate even though it had been used in the original tie at the London Stadium nine days earlier, which finished 1-1.

Although Moyes felt Darren England made the right decision to send off Benrahma, the Scot was unhappy over Williams’ tackle on the Algerian as well as one or two other incidents in the game.

Hammers boss Moyes said: “It’s incredible they call it the best cup competition in the world. Yet one week you have VAR, one week you don’t.

“I find it quite ridiculous they try to claim that, but it’s not level for every club.

“If we’re not having VAR we shouldn’t have it in the tournament at all. If we’re going to have it, then have it everywhere.”

West Ham were trailing to Tommy Conway’s third-minute goal when Benrahma was banished at the start of the second half.

“It made it much more difficult, that’s for sure,” Moyes said about trying to engineer a recovery.

“I’ve had a look at it and I don’t think we can have any complaints. I don’t think his reaction was correct. It was a sending-off.

“I wasn’t sure about the tackle on him. That might have been questionable. I thought in game-time it was a pretty hefty challenge.

“I’m not sure the referee moved in quick enough to deal with the first challenge, which allowed something else to happen. There was one on Danny Ings as well that was not the best either.”

On the defeat, Moyes added: “We should have won the game at London Stadium and done the job better.

“That’s what happens in the cup competitions – if you’re not quite on it, or maybe not at your best, you can find yourself knocked out.”

Bristol City, 14th in the Sky Bet Championship, seized their opportunity against opponents who were without Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta, Michail Antonio and Mohammed Kudus for various reasons.

Robins boss Liam Manning said: “Across the two legs the performance level was really high.

“We got off to a great start which always helps, but there’s a real danger when you’re one ahead to try and protect that lead.

“But we showed a real bravery to try and play and press. We tried to stay on the front foot and I thought we were excellent.

“I was really proud of the lads because we maintained that level of focus you need against opposition like that.”

Bristol City will be at home to either Blackpool or Nottingham Forest in round four.

Birmingham manager Tony Mowbray said his substitutions changed the game after his side’s late FA Cup replay 2-1 win over Hull.

Mowbray made five changes just after the hour-mark and the substitutes made an immediate impact.

Jay Stansfield equalised in the 66th minute after Jason Lokilo had opened the scoring with his first Hull goal after 12 minutes.

Another of Mowbray’s substitutes, Koji Miyoshi, scored the winner in stoppage time to set up a fourth-round tie at Leicester.

“The substitutions undoubtedly changed the game with the quality they brought,” said Mowbray.

“My intention was always to provide energy so I was always going to make substitutions. The supporters will get used to that.

“Modern day football is why you have to have a squad, you don’t weaken your team by making substitutions, you freshen it up.

“You make sure the lads who aren’t starting know they have an important part to play in the match.

“You have to love the players and trust them, they have to know the gaffer’s on their side. You can’t just have 11, everyone has to be part of the team.”

“The lads who came on brought how we want to play and what we want to do, they got their rewards.”

Mowbray praised his side’s determination to win the game in stoppage time.

“There were lots of positives from the game and we got the job done,” he said.

“That’s two games on the bounce where we’ve got something late on.

“I saw a message at the training ground, ‘Keep Right On’ and that’s what we’ll do.

“We’ll go right to the end and see if we can get the benefits.”

Mowbray says Fulham can recall Stansfield from his loan at St Andrew’s, but feels the player wants to stay. Stansfield scored one and assisted the winner.

“There is a small, tight window for Fulham to recall him,” said Mowbray. “It hasn’t closed, but I get on well with Marco Silva and he’d tell me if there were any issues.

“I think the kid loves it here when I look him in the eye, there are other interested parties but I think he wants to stay, score goals and progress his career. He’s in a good place here.”

Hull manager Liam Rosenior says it is time his side stopped receiving praise for their performance without getting the result.

“I was proud of the young players and their performance. But we ran out of legs.

“I have to be so careful at the moment as we have injuries coming out of our ears and two players on AFCON duty,” said Rosenior.

“We also have an important game against Sunderland coming up on Friday.

“I have to manage the squad in the right way. We couldn’t fill the bench here. But, yet again, we’ve somehow managed to throw away a comfortable position and lose the game.

“It’s hard, I’m frustrated. I’m sick and tired of coming in after the game and saying ‘Well done, the performance was great, but we didn’t get the rewards’.

“This has to be the last time. It’s a watershed moment in our season, this result has summed up a lot of our games.

“But I don’t throw players under the bus,  but we have to knuckle down. We’ll come through this.”

Boss Gary O’Neil insisted Wolves must maintain their focus after booking an FA Cup Black Country derby against West Brom.

Matheus Cunha’s penalty saw off Brentford 3-2 after extra time on Tuesday and sent Wolves into the fourth round.

Nelson Semedo and Nathan Fraser twice hit back for the hosts after goals from Nathan Collins and Neal Maupay in an entertaining replay.

Wolves now go to The Hawthorns on January 28 for the first Black Country derby in three years – and first with fans in attendance since 2012.

“As soon as we walked off I was thinking about Brighton (in the Premier League). I understand fans will be excited, it will be a big atmosphere, it hasn’t been played with fans for a while,” O’Neil said.

“I can’t wait to lead the team down there and see if we can progress again. There’s a Premier League game coming up and I have a very small tired group to do some work with before we go to Brighton.

“I have mixed feelings about the performance but I’m delighted with the win. The lads have worked unbelievably hard over the two ties. We’ve talked about taking the FA Cup seriously, we went down to 10 men at Brentford and tonight got a bit awkward for us.

“The players deserve credit for how they have approached the whole tie. We gave Brentford a bit of a lift by giving them two crazy goals.”

Collins, who joined Brentford from Wolves for £23million in the summer, opened the scoring after 13 minutes when he prodded in after Kristoffer Ajer’s shot was saved.

Semedo and Pablo Sarabia went close before Semedo levelled after 36 minutes when he tapped in after Thomas Strakosha saved his initial header.

Back came Brentford, though, and Maupay restored their lead six minutes into the second half after a VAR check for offside.

Yet Wolves equalised again with 17 minutes left, Fraser drilling into the corner three minutes after coming on.

It set up extra time and Shandon Baptiste had a shot turned on to the post by Jose Sa before Cunha won it in stoppage time of the first period when Pedro Neto was tripped in the box.

Brentford will now have Ivan Toney available when his eight-month suspension for betting breaches ends on Wednesday.

Boss Thomas Frank said: “It’s massive, no doubt. It’s like signing a Premier League striker who can score 20 goals because he’s proved it.

“Every team would be happy to sign a quality player like him. Ivan is a top player but he’s also very good at making the whole team better.

“Tonight we did a lot of things right. The first half was a bit direct from our side. I was very pleased with the second half and in extra time. In general we put a lot of effort into the game and we could have won.

“The game was decided by a penalty which, in my opinion, is not there. Ben (Mee) clearly hit the ball into Neto’s feet. It’s difficult to make a call but unfortunately I can’t alter that.”

Neill Collins praised the character of his Barnsley side as they came from behind to beat Carlisle 2-1.

Luke Armstrong put the visitors ahead after a strong start, before Devante Cole levelled and Herbie Kane grabbed the winner with a spot-kick.

Collins said: “I didn’t expect that level of performance. I don’t know the exact reasons for it, other than we’ve just had too many (players) on an off night all at once.

“It’s quite clear there were a lot of individual errors out there, they were pretty basic.

“I think tonight it was more just technical mistakes or decision making and I think we got punished for it, could’ve been punished more for it.

“Ultimately the players just dug in, we got to half-time and we were able to freshen it up.

“We scored a fantastic goal to get ourselves back level and then obviously went on and won it.

“We’ll probably have to try and learn a couple of lessons and move on.

“We managed to get to half time at 1-0 which I thought was important and then in the second half I thought we started to get a bit more quality in our play.

“The players showed a lot of good character to keep at it, to keep together. It’s very easy when you’re having a night like that to just compound it and end up in a complete disaster.

“The fans should be pleased they kept at it.”

Carlisle manager Paul Simpson felt the result was harsh on his team.

He said: “We deserved something out of that game tonight.

“People can say we didn’t finish our chances again and that’s a big part of it because in the first 13 minutes we’ve probably had four incredible chances.

“You have to take one of them, one’s got to go in.

“We had a plan of how we wanted to try and press them, very similar to Oxford at the weekend.

“I thought we won the ball well in good areas and we had a good shape about us.

“But with the chances (Daniel) Butterworth’s had in the first half, you have to take one of them, it’s simple as that.

“Massively disappointing but the pleasing thing is – and the thing I’ve said to the players in there – there’s been times where we’ve actually deserved nothing out of games.

“That tonight can give us a lot of belief, a lot of confidence. But the challenge is, we have to do it every game.

“That’s the base because it hasn’t been the base for some games. That’s a choice that players have to make.

“I’m really pleased with what they’ve done tonight but I’m absolutely gutted for them that we haven’t got the rewards that we probably deserved.”

Ronnie O’Sullivan continued his winning form at the World Grand Prix after Ali Carter had earlier continued the pair’s bitter war of words by saying he does not think the world number one is “that well mentally”.

O’Sullivan was back in action 48 hours after beating Carter in Sunday’s Masters final, where both men carried on a long-standing feud.

The world number one, who was a 4-2 victor over Pang Junxu in Leicester, is under review by the World Snooker Tour after he described Carter as “a f****** nightmare” and said he needs to “see a counsellor” after beating his fierce rival.

The 48-year-old was hitting back at Carter, who claimed the seven-time world champion had “snotted on the floor” during their match at Alexandra Palace, which O’Sullivan won 10-7.

Both men are in action at the Morningside Arena this week and Carter went back on the offensive ahead of his 4-3 win over Wu Yize, telling ITV4: “Ronnie is entitled to his opinion. I just said what it is and how it was and I talk facts. It is as simple as that.”

Asked whether he was angry at O’Sullivan’s comments, he said: “Angry about what? It makes no difference to me what he says. He says different things on different days. I don’t think he even knows what is going to come out of his mouth at certain times.

“I actually feel a bit sorry for him. I don’t think he is that well, mentally. So we move forward and we go again this week.”

O’Sullivan caused a stir when told several newspapers: “He needs to sort his f****** life out. I’m not going to skirt around it any more, tip-toeing on eggshells around someone like that. He’s a f****** nightmare.

“Playing snooker against someone like that is a nightmare. He’s not a nice person. It’s not a nice vibe he leaves around the table.

“I’ve said my piece, I don’t give a s***. I’ve said it now, done. You know what he’s like, everybody knows what he’s like.

“He’s got issues. F****** why has he got issues with me? I’m not having it.”

O’Sullivan admitted he should have withdrawn from the event in Leicester and said the only reason is still playing tournaments is to keep his tour card.

He said on ITV after his win against the Chinese: “I will definitely be missing a few tournaments after this, I shouldn’t even really have come here to be honest, but it is alright so I thought I would just turn up. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have come.

“The main thing for me now is exhibitions, I am contracted to 25 a year so I have got to make time for them, I have 25-30 days with my sponsors, that’s two months where it is important stuff for me.

“I just play and perform to make me get my cue out of the case basically, if I didn’t have tournaments I wouldn’t play.

“I would like to think if I fell off the tour I might get a wild card but knowing World Snooker they would probably say no. I am just trying to keep my tour card really, that’s all I am trying to do.

“I am not bothered about tournaments, it is not my favourite bit to be fair.”