Opinion: The joy that Ronnie O'Sullivan playing snooker still provides is needed now more than ever

Snooker’s latest late night drama did not let us down as Fan Zhengyi, a completely unheralded 21-year-old from Harbin in North Eastern China, edged out Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-9 to win the European Masters in Milton Keynes on Sunday. Fan was 750-1 for the title at the start of the tournament. He was also the worthy winner.

He played the better snooker throughout the final. His potting was fearless and he did not falter in the decider, making a 92 break to secure the title. Ad/> It was all the more special because of who he beat.

O’Sullivan is a hero to a generation of players who have come along in his wake. To the rest of us, he represents something special: an unchanging pleasure amid the turmoil of real life. European Masters'Is that alright?' – O’Sullivan tells crowd to stop moving in 'extraordinary' exchange21 HOURS AGO The wider world offers plenty of reasons not to be cheerful: climate change, the deep polarisation of our society, a pandemic and now, horrifically, a war in Europe.

Watching the news channels last Thursday morning while doom-scrolling social media for the latest updates from Ukraine was a depressing experience. A few hours later, we were watching Ronnie play snooker. It was a reminder of what a wonderful sight that is.

He beat Ashley Hugill 5-2. It wasn’t his best ever performance, not even close, but he had a couple of centuries and cued nicely throughout. And we thoroughly enjoyed the whole show.

It was like an oasis of sanity in a world apparently gone mad. We come to sport for different reasons but more often than not it functions as a distraction from the daily grind of life. The much-missed Sunday Times journalist Hugh McIlvanney once wrote that “of all the things that don’t matter, sport matters