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Ronnie O'Sullivan: I was offered a bribe

Photo by ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images

Ronnie O'Sullivan, the five-time world snooker champion, has said he turned down an offer to throw a match - because he "couldn't live" with himself if he had done it.

O'Sullivan, 39, said he believes match-fixing is less of a problem now than it has been in recent years, when other players did accept bribes.

In 2012, Stephen Lee was banned for 12 years on match-fixing charges, and O'Sullivan says the treatment of Lee has contributed to match-fixing being "stamped out" of the game.

Speaking on The Clare Balding Show, which will air later this week, O'Sullivan said: "I was offered money once to throw a game but I couldn't do it.

"It's your sport, you love your sport. They smell it anyway. The risk is just not worth taking and I couldn't live with myself if I got involved in that.

"I don't think it'll go on in snooker any more because they really made an example of Stephen Lee. They banned him for 12 years and I think a lot of the guys that were at it, they're thinking they wouldn't be able to play snooker ever again.

"So I think it's been stamped out of snooker now and if anyone was to do it, they know what the consequences are."

In May, Irish amateur John Sutton was banned for six years after being found guilty of match-fixing and misusing inside information after suspicious betting on his match against Scotland's Jamie Burnett in the qualifying stages of the International Championship.