Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals he will give away his Shanghai Masters trophy as he claims ‘I’m not really bothered’ by silverware after securing fourth successive title

Ronnie O’Sullivan will sell his Shanghai Masters trophy after beating Luca Brecel 11-9 in the final, showing he will never hold the gong.

O’Sullivan came back from 4-3 down to beat the Belgian and take the title for the fourth year in a row as the World Snooker Tour returned to mainland China.

The Rocket withstood Brecel’s challenge despite rallying late in the draw, with the world number 1 managing breaks of 143 and 120 to put himself in a strong position against the player one spot below him.

However, despite a memorable match win for the 47-year-old – his 18th in a row in Shanghai – he admitted he would part with his latest silverware sooner than many would expect.

“I’m giving the trophy to my friend who is opening a club here in China,” he revealed after the match. ‘I’m not really concerned about trophies.

The Rocket won four gongs during his ride in the Chinese city but insisted he doesn’t want any more memorabilia by the time he turns 80

It was revenge against Luca Brecel (left) who defeated him earlier this year on his way to the world championship

‘I always give them away. My friend Paul has one, I gave one to a kid in the crowd

‘I don’t want to have any memorabilia when I’m seventy or eighty. I’m preparing for death – part of that is I don’t want the snooker stuff – it’s all going on.’

Arguably the best to ever play the game, O’Sullivan has made a career of an aggressive, fast-paced style.

But even he was overshadowed by Brecel’s brilliant and ambitious approach, which saw him win almost every pot available to him, and he was good value in his narrow loss to the Briton.

O’Sullivan has now marked seven years since his last defeat in Shanghai, a shock loss to Michael Holt, with an enforced break following the Covid pandemic.

O’Sullivan’s fourth straight title was actually his fifth in total, having claimed the gong in 2009, 2017, 2018, 2019 and now 2023.

His claim that he hopes to have no memories of his glittering career by the time he dies could leave him with a lot of work to do given his unprecedented success in snooker.

In addition to his four Shanghai Masters titles, O’Sullivan has won 39 ranking tournaments, including seven World Championships, seven British Championships and seven Masters.

Despite being one of the greatest players to have played a cue, O’Sullivan has also been openly critical of snooker throughout his career.

O’Sullivan came from 4-3 down to win 11-9, but managed to stave off a late attack from the Belgian

Despite Brecel’s rally, the Brit put together breaks of 120 and 143 to put himself in a strong position

O’Sullivan is now undefeated in Shanghai for seven years and the tournament returns after a four-year hiatus

Brecel’s ultra-aggressive style has received rave reviews from across the game, including from the Rocket himself

Earlier this year he called for more clashes between the best ‘eight or 16’ players to improve the ‘content’ of snooker, rather than seeing top players take on outsiders.

But the win in China was revenge for the Belgian’s stunning victory over him in the World Championship quarter-finals in April, when Brecel claimed a maiden title at the Crucible after completing seven frame wins in a row to win 13-10 won. denying the Rocket a record eighth crown.

‘It was one of those tournaments. I was well below par, but when I had to I played well,” he said after Sunday’s victory.

‘I’m not surprised that Luca has done as well as he has. He is not a surprising world champion. He has an amazing ability to play this game.”