Ronnie has beaten Mink Nutcharut by 6-3 to progress to round 2 at the 2024 International Championship in Nanjing. I was a good and enjoyable match.

Here is the report by WST:

Ronnie O’Sullivan returned to the World Snooker Tour after a seven-week absence and battled to a 6-3 first round win over women’s world number one Mink Nutcharut at the International Championship in Nanjing.

O’Sullivan’s last appearance on the circuit was a 4-2 defeat against He Guoqiang at the English Open in September, but the 48-year-old looked sharp today as he compiled two centuries and four more breaks over 50 setting up another meeting with China’s He in the last 64 on Monday. 

Nutcharut, the 2022 World Women’s Champion, threatened a huge upset when she took the opening frame on the colours, before seven-time Crucible king O’Sullivan recovered to take the next four with runs of 124, 89, 61 and 53. Thailand’s Nutcharut battled back to 4-3, only for O’Sullivan to claim the last two frames with breaks of 69 and 132.

World number five O’Sullivan wrote on X: “An absolute privilege to play such a talented opponent. Thank you for the game and good luck in the future.” And in a post-match press conference he added: “Hopefully I’ll get a chance to see more of Nanjing because I hear it is a very beautiful city. All the players love being in China because the people treat us very well and make us feel special.” 

O’Sullivan was also asked a recent meeting with legendary actor Jackie Chan and added: “We have spoken a few times on the phone and we have mutual friends. This was the first time we he had met, he’s a lovely guy.“

Here are the scores for this match:

Ronnie wasn’t at his absolute best but he played much better and looked much happier than the last time we had seen him on the baize. Mink played well too, she really did. This was the best I remember seeing her play actually. Ronnie’s praise is absolutely genuine. When the match finished the camera was on the two of them and it was obvious how Mink felt happy and valued despite the defeat. Ronnie turned to the crowd and invited them to applaud her. Here is a short footage of the end of the match, shared by WST on Weibo:

And here some images of the match, shared by WST on Weibo and on their website

Ronnie was wearing a classy white shirt. That was a nice change from the usual all black attire. I loved it!

Here are short videos shared by Eurosport on their YouTube channel: