Ronnie O'Sullivan reveals he is intermittently fasting to boost his quest for glory at the Crucible... as the seven-time world champion compares himself to a forest animal

Ronnie O’Sullivan revealed that he is intermittently fasting in his quest for a record eighth World Championship title.

The 48-year-old, who beat Ryan Day 13-7 to move into the quarter-finals, is rewriting the recipe book to stay in tip-top condition for the Crucible’s unrelenting demands.

‘I’m doing 16 or 17 hours fasting,’ he said. ‘I try to stop eating at seven at night, but it’s hard here because you’re playing matches, so I stopped at 8.30pm.

‘I didn’t eat again until about 12.20pm today, just before my match. It’s great. I feel good. If I eat too much, I get sluggish.

‘Animals in the forest go a couple of days without food and they get hungry and get their prey, eat it and digest it for a while. They’re not having three meals a day and snacking of a night.’

And his magic food when he broke his fast, getting a delivery to his dressing room door? ‘Cantonese, some dim sum,’ he said. ‘When I’m breaking my fast I want to make sure it’s something I really like.

‘I cheated this morning: I had some milk in my tea! Tomorrow I’m going to try with no milk – a proper fast.’

O’Sullivan turned to healthy in collaboration with Harley Street nutritionist Rhiannon Lambert, with whom he published a book in 2018. ‘The fasting started when I was antibiotics and I needed to stop eating to give my stomach a break,’ added the world No 1.

Kyren Wilson, meanwhile, became the first player to admit he had been approached by a would-be rebel series – a Chinese-backed potential breakaway offering £300,000 to lure big names. However, the risk is exclusion from the sport’s Triple Crown events.

Wilson, a father of two sons, dispatched debutant Joe O’Connor 13-6 before divulging: ‘I have been contacted. A lot of players have. It’s a good position for snooker. I am not thinking about it while I am playing here, though. I will sit down with the family and analyse.’