O'Sullivan names eight players who could stop him winning record world title
Ronnie O'Sullivan has named the contenders who could stop him from winning a record-breaking eighth world snooker title.
The Rocket is the favourite to defend his Crucible crown and beat the legendary Stephen Hendry's magnificent haul of seven in the sport's blue-riband event.
O'Sullivan, 47, has had an underwhelming season by his own lofty standards, after creating history inside the iconic Sheffield theatre with a 18-13 victory over Judd Trump last May.
The world No.1 has since won two eminent invitational events at the Hong Kong Masters and Champion of Champions, but has not reached a single ranking semi-final and failed to qualify for the Players or the Tour Championship after finishing outside the top 16 in the one-year list.
He is also nursing an old elbow injury - but knows that his past form will quickly become insignificant if he returns fit and firing for his first round match this weekend.
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Shaun Murphy and Mark Selby are the in-form players heading to Sheffield but the tournament is hard to predict after a season where so many elite performers have flattered to deceive.
And O'Sullivan has name-checked a host of big-names who he believes are in with a chance of Crucible glory.
O'Sullivan is the defending champion at the Crucible (Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock)"There are so many good players around like [Shaun]Murphy, Judd [Trump], Neil Robertson, John Higgins, Mark Williams, Mark Allen and Ding Junhui," O'Sullivan told Eurosport.
"They're such good players and you see Shaun Murphy beat Mark Selby in the last tournament. He also beat him in the tournament before.
"Everyone's kind of beating each other. So it's really difficult to say this one, that one. There’s some really, really fantastic players. Selby’s done great – he’s won a lot of tournaments. He's definitely up there.
2005 champion Shaun Murphy is the form player heading into the tournament (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)"But this is the World Championship, this is a different test and there's a lot of snooker to be played in Sheffield."
It is extremely rare for an outsider to go all the way and win snooker's biggest event at a venue like no other and O'Sullivan will not be caught up in the pre-tournament hype amid varying expectations for different players.
He added: "I think a lot can be looked into before the event and you think: 'this guy's in form'. But I think, come the quarter-final stage, you can start to see who is really looking dangerous."
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