O'Sullivan takes shock World Championship loss to amateur Cahill

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Snooker great Ronnie O'Sullivan insisted it was "not the end of the world" after he suffered a stunning defeat by amateur James Cahill in the first round of the World Championship on Tuesday.

In one of the biggest upsets in snooker history, Cahill beat five-time world champion O'Sullivan 10-8 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Not since 2003 had O'Sullivan lost in the first round of the World Championship.

O'Sullivan, the current world number one, had been in fine form heading into the world championship after winning five tournaments this season, compiling his 1,000th career century en route to victory in the Players Championship.

But the "Rocket" blamed a below-par display on illness and recurring bouts of insomnia.

"My limbs are feeling very heavy. I have no energy," he said.

"You come here and try to do your best but if you're physically not 100 percent it's just one of those things. If you could take a magic pill to protect yourself from this stuff you would."

O'Sullivan tried to put his defeat into context by adding: "It's just life, it's not the end of the world... If I feel better Friday I'll be really disappointed if I still don't feel too great it probably wasn't the worst thing that could have happened."

The 43-year-old, last crowned world champion in 2013, added: "It's over, it's done and now I can disappear and have a holiday and just enjoy the rest of the tournament."

Amateur Cahill pulls off the biggest shock in Crucible history as he completes an astonishing 10-8 win over five-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan. /Xinhua Photo

Meanwhile, Cahill, who came through three rounds of qualifying to make his Crucible debut, was delighted with a win over his snooker "idol."

"I'm absolutely over the moon with that," said the 23-year-old.

"I'm glad to hold myself together against the best player in the world on my Crucible debut, it doesn't get any better than that."

Cahill added: "You've got to believe you can beat anyone. I've got so much respect for Ronnie, he's such a great player and my idol really, but there's only so much respect you can have for these people because at the end of the day you have to go out and beat them."

Here are some big first-round shocks in Crucible history:

Tony Knowles 10-1 Steve Davis (1982)

Stuart Bingham 10-7 Stephen Hendry (2000)

David Gray 10-9 Ronnie O'Sullivan (2000)

Michael Wasley 10-9 Ding Junhui (2014)

Rory McLeod 10-8 Judd Trump (2017)

Bingham holds off Dott after comeback scare

Stuart Bingham survived a superb comeback from world number 21 Graeme Dott to win 10-9.

Bingham, the 2015 Crucible winner, once took control of the first session by taking an 8-1 lead. But Dott, who has reached the World Championship finals three times and won the title in 2006, scored three breaks of 70 or more and century but just fell short in a nervy final frame.

The 16th seed David Gilbert edged past Joe Perry with a 10-7 victory, joining Bingham to reach the second round of the World Championship.

On the other table, China's world number 35 Zhou Yuelong took a 7-2 lead against Mark Allen after their first session while Judd Trump trails 6-3 against Thailand's world number 43 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

(Cover: Ronnie O'Sullivan (L) shakes hands with James Cahill during the Snooker World Championship in England, April 23, 2019. /VCG Photo)

(With input from AFP)