Ronnie O'Sullivan's MELTDOWN: Fuming snooker legend pulls out of event

Ronnie O'Sullivan has withdrawn from the Championship League following a series of bizarre antics during a defeat in his penultimate group match. 

The snooker legend lost three of his four matches on Wednesday and appeared to have issues with the tip of his cue on numerous occasions. 

O'Sullivan returned to the Leicester Arena on Thursday morning for a clash against Robert Milkins but suffered the same result as most of his matches a day prior. At several points the seven-time world champion's emotions seemed to get the better of him. 

He could be seen whacking his cue on the table after missing a pot. O'Sullivan swiftly apologised to the referee and his opponent after the incident. 

Later, he fired a white ball into a group of reds, allowing Milkins to clinch a 3-2 victory. 

In another notable incident, after failing a routine pot of the blue, O'Sullivan appeared to perform a lewd gesture by spreading his squat legs, sticking his tongue out and moving his cue back and forth from his waist. 

The Rocket was due to play Ali Carter in his final group match on Thursday afternoon but he chose to withdraw from the competition. 

Commentator Dave Hendon explained: 'Ronnie O’Sullivan we saw earlier was clearly getting frustrated against Robert Milkins. He has made the decision to withdraw from the tournament so he won’t be playing his last match against Ali Carter.

'It means all the matches he was involved in was voided, so he’s on zero (points).

‘Effectively now it’s a six-man group. Still the top four will go through [to the semi-finals] and only one player aside from O’Sullivan will be relegated.’