Ronnie O'Sullivan joins SightRight snooker coaching set-up

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Ronnie O'SullivanImage source, PA
Image caption,

Ronnie O'Sullivan lost to Ali Carter in the second round of the 2018 World Championship

Five-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan has joined the SightRight coaching stable, the set-up that helped revitalise the career of reigning Crucible champion Mark Williams.

O'Sullivan, 42, a 33-time ranking event winner, has often said he now sees snooker as a hobby more than a career.

But his link-up with SightRight, a system which focuses on alignment, suggests he is keen to add to his haul.

"I can't wait for the season ahead," O'Sullivan said on Twitter.

Williams, 43, won the third Crucible title of his career - and his first since 2003 - by beating Scotland's John Higgins in May and was quick to credit SightRight coach Stephen Feeney.

The Welshman came close to quitting the sport, but said he had worked hard on his "alignment and getting the right aim" on shots with Feeney, who also works with golfers and darts players.

O'Sullivan added: "Stephen really knows his stuff and no wonder he has had two world champions in the past four seasons [Stuart Bingham and Williams]. I have been blown away in the first few sessions with him."

Fellow Englishmen Martin Gould and David Gilbert both work with Feeney, as does Hong Kong's Marco Fu.

Image source, Ronnie O'Sullivan

Analysis

Jamie Broughton, BBC Radio 5 live snooker reporter

Feeney says 99% of all players sight their shots from the wrong point of observation, something physicists refer to as a "parallax error". In snooker terms, it means they line up a shot with their body rather than their eyes.

His system is all about making sure a player is correctly aligned and correctly sighted when they play a shot. O'Sullivan is just the latest high-profile star to join the SightRight stable.

O'Sullivan, like all great champions, is always looking to improve. In the past, he's been coached by the former world champion Ray Reardon, worked on the mental side of his game with leading sport psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters, and is currently working with a food nutritionist to improve his diet.