Ronnie O’Sullivan said he never keeps the trophy after winning a fourth straight Shanghai Masters title with an 11-9 win over Luca Brecel.
The Englishman trailed 4-3 at one stage before taking three consecutive frames against Belgium’s world champion.
Breaks of 143 and 120 took O’Sullivan to the brink of victory and he held on despite a late rally from his opponent.
“I’ll be giving the trophy to my friend who is opening up a club here. It will be staying in China,” he said
“I always give them away. My mate Paul’s got one, I gave one to a kid in the crowd.
“I’m not really bothered about trophies. I’ve sold quite a few of them – I don’t want any memorabilia left by the time I’m 70 or 80. I’m preparing for death – part of that is I don’t want no snooker stuff – waistcoats, cues, it’s all going to go.”
It was the seven-time world champion’s 18th successive match victory in the Chinese city.
This was the first World Snooker Tour event held in mainland China since 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic.
O’Sullivan picked up where he left off, clinching the title for a fifth time overall after victories in 2009, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
“It was one of those tournaments. I was well below par, but I played alright when I had to,” he said.
He praised Brecel, who had beaten him in the quarter-finals on the way to becoming world champion earlier this year.
“I’m not surprised Luca has done as well as he has. He’s not a surprise world champion. He’s got an amazing gift to play this game,” said O’Sullivan,
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