World Snooker boss Barry Hearn defends K2 venue after Ronnie O’Sullivan blast

World Snooker boss Barry Hearn has played down Ronnie O’Sullivan calling the venue for the English Open “a hellhole”.

O’Sullivan claimed the K2 Leisure Centre in Crawley was a bad venue and that it smelled of urine.

But in the wake of the former world No1’s comfortable 4-1 victory over Kurt Maflin, Hearn told Standard Sport: “It’s standard Ronnie for first-day press. I love Ronnie, Ronnie loves controversy and it’s good.

"It’s funny, really. The venue is more than acceptable — we can’t go outdoors at Wembley for every sports event out there.”

Following his opening win, O’Sullivan had said: “I don’t know what this gaff is but I’ve done an interview and all I can smell is urine.

"It’s got no atmosphere in there. World Snooker obviously haven’t got the budget to run it properly.”

Hearn revealed that no official complaints had been made by players.