HEALTH FREAK Ronnie O’Sullivan admits intermittent fasting is giving him the hunger to become Crucible champion on Bank Holiday Monday.

The fitness-conscious Rocket is carefully watching what he eats as he tries to negotiate another slog of Sheffield snooker madness.

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Even though he has to play late into the night, the world No.1 is trying to stay disciplined and not consume anything past 7pm.

There are the odd relapses – he had a takeaway Cantonese meal on Sunday evening – but on the whole, he feels more energised when he is giving his digestive system a break.

Though Mrs Maul’s marmalade, which he has been spreading on his scones in the build-up, remains a firm part of his diet in those hours when he does eat.

O’Sullivan, who is 49 in December, said: “I’m intermittent fasting for this tournament because it gives me more energy.

“It’s a tournament of endurance, stamina, concentration.

“Once the tournament’s over, I’ll be back to eating 24 hours a day but there are times when you have to work out what’s right for you.

“I go a certain period of time where I don’t eat. It’s just amazing for my body, the energy that you get from it.

“I cheated this morning, I had some milk in my tea! Tomorrow I’m going to try with no milk, a proper fast.

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The Rocket he has suffered a lifetime of yo-yoing weight, addiction and mental health struggles, and an often unhealthy relationship with food and fitness.

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“I’ve always found it works really well for me.

“I just got ill once. I think it was through antibiotics. The only way to give my stomach a rest was to stop eating.

“My nutritionist, who I wrote a book with, she said the only thing I could do was not eat.

“Obviously you’ve got to eat, but I tried it and I loved it. I thought it was great. I just felt it worked for me.

“I’m doing 16 or 17 hours at the moment. I try to stop at seven at night but it’s hard here because you’re playing matches, so I stopped at 8.30pm.

“I didn’t eat again until about 12.20pm before my match. It’s great. I feel good. I’m 48 and I feel energised. If I eat too much I get sluggish.

“Animals in the forest they go a couple of days without food and they get hungry and get their prey, eat it and digest it for a while.

“They’re not having three meals a day and snacking of a night.

I need every little advantage I can get at this stage

Ronnie O’Sullivan

“It’s just eat when you’re hungry and give your body a rest. It works for me anyway.

“I had Cantonese. I had some dim sum. When I’m breaking my fast I want to make sure it’s something I really like. It tastes really good as well, amazing.

“There are certain things I do. It doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to win, but I need every little advantage I can get at this stage.”

O’Sullivan’s loyal fans must be salivating at the prospect of him lifting title No.8 and he moved a step closer by battering error-ridden Ryan Day 13-7.

This will be his 22nd appearance in the quarter-finals of the World Snooker Championship in 32 outings.

There was a bizarre moment at the start of Monday’s session when O’Sullivan had a brief joke with someone in the crowd.

The seven-time world champ revealed: “This woman got bit excited.

She’d probably never been to a snooker match before and was clapping on her own for 25 seconds.

“I told her to calm down a little bit. I didn’t want her to think I was telling her off.

“I gave her a little smile at the end to show I wasn’t out to get her.”

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