Snooker stars Neil Robertson and John Higgins have called for the chalk Ronnie O’Sullivan uses to be banned amid controversy at the World Championship.
Seven-time world champion O’Sullivan is one of the only players still using Triangle chalk, which leaves visible streaks on the table and can cause kicks during matches.
The majority on the tour have switched to a product made by Taom. It leaves less marks and is said to reduce the chances of bad contact between cue ball and object ball.
Robertson has led calls for Triangle chalk to be banned as he claimed ‘all the players hate it’.
‘It destroys the game,’ the Australian said. ‘You get kicks, you get bounces. Not only that, it makes an absolute mess of the table.
‘I know he [O’Sullivan] is good friends with [artist] Damien Hirst, but it’s like he’s doing artwork with chalk all over the cloth.
The chalk used by Ronnie O’Sullivan has come under fire from his fellow snooker stars this week
Should players be allowed to use chalk if it risks ruining the game for everyone else?
‘I don’t think he does it to put off anyone, he’s not that way inclined at all, but it’s not great.
‘It’s hard enough to play Ronnie O’Sullivan, but he’s the only player, just about, on tour who uses that chalk. Hopefully, they bring in a ban, but there are only a couple of players who use it.’
John Higgins, who beat O’Sullivan 13-12 in a final-frame thriller to reach the quarter-finals, appears to agree with Robertson, his opponent in the last eight.
Higgins suffered a bad kick when trying to pot a red in the last frame in his clash with O’Sullivan before going on to clinch a dramatic victory.
He told talkSPORT: ‘It’s a good shout because it just messes the table up. It’s like going back in time playing.
‘We’ve got a new brand of chalk called Taom and it’s just like a game changer in the last four or five years. But I don’t think Ronnie enjoys using it.
Neil Robertson (right) has led calls for O’Sullivan’s chalk to be banned and has been backed by John Higgins (centre)
‘I personally think Ronnie uses it because he’s got a better cue ball control than any other player in the game.
‘So he feels as if he can still control the white better when we’re getting bad kicks and bad bounces.
‘But no, 99 per cent of the players on tour now, they hate it. They really do.’
