Maybe not a big surprise after his efforts last week and the 200000 point/pounds earned that basically “secure” his season already … here is the minimal announcement by WST:

O’Sullivan Withdraws From Wuhan Open

Ronnie O’Sullivan has pulled out of next week’s Wuhan Open in China for medical reasons. 

O’Sullivan was due to meet Allan Taylor in the opening round on Sunday August 24. He will be replaced in the draw with the leading player from the Q School rankings, Germany’s Umut Dikme. 

The world ranking event in Wuhan runs from August 24-30.

I was still really expecting him to play for two reasons. First because he’s got Chinese sponsors in the past, but maybe that’s not the case anymore or maybe they are not particularly interested/involved in this event? Next because he had promised to commit to the events he entered but, of course, we do not know, and have no “right to know” what the nature of the health issues is. Some health issues can take a lot of time to “heal”. One example of such illness is glandular fever that affected Ronnie in the past. Alas, at times, health problems can even even become “chronic”. We have seen cases with other players: Ben Woollaston and Ricky Walden are examples. We can only hope for the best.