Ronnie O'Sullivan has reignited his feud with Hossein Vafaei as the Iranian faces Ding Junhui for the chance to take on ' The Rocket ' the Crucible.
O'Sullivan defeated Pang Junxu 10-7 in his opening match of this year's World Championships in Sheffield. Vafaei will be The Rocket's opponent in the second round if he defeats World No 16 Ding, with their game beginning on Sunday.
Ding is the favourite, though O'Sullivan appears to be relishing the chance to take on the Prince of Persia more. The duo clashed during last year's World Championships when Vafaei called for O'Sullivan to retire for being 'disrespectful.
Though he rowed back on those comments, it appears The Rocket has not forgotten Vafaei's blast. After easing his way past Pang, O'Sullivan, the reigning world champion, hit out at Vafaei and warned him not to spark another feud.
O'Sullivan told Eurosport: "Hossein Vafaei, the man who said…what did he say about me, I can’t remember?" Pundit Alan McManus gave him an answer of: "I think he said you should retire."
The Rocket then responded: "Has he been saying much this year?. I think he’s learned to be quiet. Don’t rattle my cage! I’m just having fun. I love it when they call me out, I love it when they give me stick.
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"I love it, it turns me on, I get off on it. I need it to fire me up so I’m hoping someone says something, so I can have a reason to perform. But they’re not going to say it now, they probably realise it’s not a good tactic."
Vafaei and Ding are battling it out to face O'Sullivan, with their match to come to a conclusion on Monday morning. Last year, the Iranian had hit out at Sullivan, demanding the Englishman retire for his 'disrespectful' comments about snooker.
"Listen, he doesn’t need to remind us he’s won 20 major tournaments. To be honest, Ronnie O’Sullivan without his team, without the people who are around him, he wouldn’t be here at all. He wouldn’t be here at all," he said.
"He’s comparing himself with someone else. He’s comparing me with someone else. I don’t like that. We don’t have to compare ourselves to others. He’s saying you are poor, I am rich, I am Ronnie O’Sullivan. I don’t like that.
"I have money, my people in Iran have money, but we have to respect human beings as well. I don’t want to get involved in that kind of conversation really. I like him a lot, I am his fan, I love what he does but sometimes he’s disrespectful, he’s not good for the game.
"I think he should retire, to be honest with you. He should retire and then the younger generation make the game bigger. I don’t see any improvement, he’s been 20 years on top of this sport and what has he done for us?"
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