Ronnie O'Sullivan withdraws from International Championship: The word 'medical' and the one-way ticket to Nanjing

Only one name is missing from the International Championship qualifying list in Leicester on September 17: Ronnie O'Sullivan. People waited for the answer 'why', and received two familiar words: medical reasons. For a 50-year-old player, the word 'medical' is like a veil. To me, it is the truth, but never the whole truth. O'Sullivan has not played a ranking event in the United Kingdom since September 2026. He withdrew from the British Open, the English Open and now the International Championship. He did not withdraw from the China Open and Wuhan Open earlier this season. If you only read the results, you might think O'Sullivan is choosing tournaments by money. But I have followed him since the early days, and I understand that the problem lies in space. I do not watch the match from the stands. I count the space between two positions. For O'Sullivan, the biggest gap is not between two balls on the table, but between two shores. When he flies to China, he carries a different identity. There, he is a revered legend, an artist who receives flowers before he even wins. He is simply 'The Rocket'. In England, every missed shot is dissected like an indictment. Home has become a place where the past is projected onto him, while Nanjing or Wuhan allows him to become a version born for the present. Looking at the schedule, one might call it selective. But O'Sullivan is 50. An athlete at that age cannot deny his body. Shoulder pain, neck pain, spasms, long-term anxiety – all of it is real. I have seen other players at this age forced to stop completely. O'Sullivan does not stop. He learns to choose his battles, and that is a tactic, not a surrender. I remember the summer of 2026, when I followed a German coach for seven months. I learned that pressing is not anger; it is calculation. Football is like that, and snooker is too. O'Sullivan withdrawing from three tournaments in Britain is not impulsive. It is a calculation to prolong his career. He is sacrificing matches that wear down his body and mind, in order to save those where he still believes in his inspiration. One thing that surprises me is how easily people call medical reasons an 'excuse'. They forget that a long flight to China can be more physically demanding than a match in Leicester. But O'Sullivan still flies. So perhaps what makes him withdraw is not his legs or his arm. What makes him withdraw is the exhaustion of context. When he enters an arena in England, he does not only face his opponent; he faces the whole story of his own greatness. In China, he steps in like a free man, carrying nothing but his cue. I once wrote: At fifty-nine, I still believe in what I mocked at twenty: that a match is decided by a single moment. For O'Sullivan, that moment is still ahead. He withdraws today, but I do not believe he has accepted a future of watching golf on television. He is preserving his energy for the moments he considers worthy. If Nanjing cannot make him stand up, then nothing in England can do so at the moment. This story is not only about a player withdrawing. It is about how a great man faces the fragility of his own body. There was a time when people said O'Sullivan would retire because he was bored. Then they said he would retire for money. Now they say he is retiring because of illness. But I have lived long enough in sport to know: never read a withdrawal literally. Place it next to the matches he chooses to play. Then a clearer portrait appears. O'Sullivan played the China Open and Wuhan Open earlier this season. He can play in Asia because his emotions are different there. Not because the level of opposition is lower, but because of the atmosphere. He is welcomed as an artist. He does not have to prove he is still number one. He just has to be himself. That is a gift which England, with all its worship, has unknowingly taken away from him. People say British tournaments are losing O'Sullivan, but I think O'Sullivan is also losing England. He no longer feels he belongs there. When an athlete no longer finds belonging, he cannot produce magic. He just forces himself to complete an obligation. And O'Sullivan has never been a man who forces himself. So call it medical reason if you want. But do not call it a farewell. O'Sullivan still has a contract with the places that make him want to hold his cue. Nanjing may not welcome him this time, but I will not be surprised if he appears at another event in China later this season. The only question that truly concerns me is: does he still want to return to England again? That is a question he himself may not be able to answer yet.