Ronnie O'Sullivan can win 10 World Snooker Championship titles, says Jimmy White, as Hossein Vafaei clash looms

Ronnie O'Sullivan can win 10 World Snooker Championship titles and play for «at least» five or six more years at the top level, says Jimmy White. O'Sullivan, who starts his second-round grudge match with Hossein Vafaei on Friday, saw off Pang Junxu in his opener as he eyes a record eighth Crucible crown to move one ahead of Stephen Hendry. Ad White is unsure if the form O'Sullivan displayed in his first-round encounter was good enough to win another world title, but he nonetheless backed him to do so in the years to come.

World Championship'Why would you wind him up?' — Williams weighs in on O'Sullivan v Vafaei feudYESTERDAY AT 09:15 Speaking alongside Alan McManus on Eurosport, White said: «I definitely think he [O'Sullivan] will win eight, I think he can possibly win 10, because he's super fit. »On his first-round performance here, I'm not too sure if it'll be this year, unless he comes back on Friday and produces the stuff that he needs to to win it. «With O'Sullivan, he has that love-hate relationship with the game.

»But he works really hard and he's a bit of a perfectionist, and when he's at top form, he's sort of unplayable, so he will keep striving for that. «I think for sure he's got at least another five or six years at the very top.» 'It could be eight, nine...' — O'Sullivan 'not putting a number' on world title target Overhead Cam: Watch Wilson's spectacular 147 from special angle White, who knows O'Sullivan well, expanded on his friend's «hunger levels» as he discussed with McManus the prospect of The Rocket carrying on in the game. «I think he doesn't know he needs it [snooker],» White said.