Snooker: Ronnie O'sullivan Makes Sensational Draw Fix Claim

Two-times snooker world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan has accused the games governing body of foul play in the draw for this year's championship. Essex-based O'Sullivan claims that authorities are trying to "stitch me up" by conspiring to give him yet another tough first-round draw.

The draw took place live on the BBC's breakfast programme and pitted O'Sullivan against China's Ding Junhui, who has risen 35 places to 27th in the official World Snooker rankings this season. This despite him losing in the Masters Final to O'Sullivan who praised the Chinese teenager after defeating him 10-3 at Wembley Arena in January.

The competition's seeding process ensures that the world's top 16 avoid each other in the opening round at the Crucible. Although Ding is clearly ranked outside this elite group he is hotly tipped on his debut to take this year's tournament by storm when he commences this weekend.

O'Sullivan's recent first round encounters have certainly been difficult. In 2003 he was drawn against Marco Fu, who had only recently dropped out of the top 16 and in the following two years he took on Scottish youngster Stephen Maguire, who only last year was ranked No3 in the world, the position now occupied by O'Sullivan. But a spokesman for World Snooker strongly denies the player's claim that the draw is "fixed". "We want to state categorically that the draw is 100% genuine," he explained. "The balls were drawn randomly from two bags...also, the draw was witnessed by an independent auditor whose job it was to ensure the draw's authenticity."

O'Sullivan's claims just add to a long line of controversies which have dogged his remarkable career. In a game against the Canadian Alain Robidoux at the 1996 World Championships he was accused of showing disrespect to his opponent by playing with his left-hand, his 'wrong' hand. After claiming he could play better with his left hand than Robidoux could with his right, he was forced to prove that he could play left handed to a professional standard; he succeeded by beating former world championship runner up Rex Williams over three frames. In the same tournament he was fined for assaulting an official and a year later he was stripped of his Irish masters title after testing positive for marijuana.

After walking out of a match against Stephen Hendry at the UK Championships in December he returned to win the Masters against Ding in January. But his form has been typically inconsistent since then - he performed poorly in the recent Malta Cup and Welsh Open but became the inaugural winner of the Paul Hunter trophy.