• Snooker

O'Sullivan outbursts land him £8,000 fine

Ronnie O'Sullivan won his fifth Masters title on Sunday © PA Photos

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Masters champion Ronnie O'Sullivan has been hit with a total of £8,000 in fines over comments he made on Twitter and to a senior referee.

Following three posts he made on the social media site, O'Sullivan - who claimed his fifth Masters crown on Sunday - was fined £6,000 as well as being ordered to pay £1,000 in costs.

O'Sullivan made match-fixing claims - which were later retracted - and suggested pills could also improve his form, as well as posting an offensive tweet.

There was also a £1,000 fine for verbally insulting a senior referee in December. Governing body World Snooker warned O'Sullivan about his future conduct following the incident, which took place in Barnsley during qualifying for the German Masters.

A statement from World Snooker said: "There is no excuse for the actions of Mr O'Sullivan."

O'Sullivan admitted the offence and later apologised, claiming he made the comments due to the hot conditions at the event making him feel unwell. He denied that his Twitter remarks - made in September and October last year - had brought the game into disrepute, however, though was found to have breached World Snooker rules.

The governing body added: "The WPBSA work hard to maintain what is widely considered to be one of the strongest anti-corruption units of any sport as well has having strong anti-doping policies which involve robust testing schedules.

"The WPBSA Disciplinary Committee considered that the comments that were made undermined these efforts and were damaging to the image of the sport. Such behaviour will not be tolerated."

World Snooker also described O'Sullivan's conduct to the referee as "abusive, insulting and disrespectful."

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