Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals wild dietary change and compares himself to wild animal

Ronnie O'Sullivan says that he is fasting in a bid to secure his eighth world championship.

The 48-year-old is in peak physical condition as he looks to go all the way at the Crucible.

O'Sullivan beat Ryan Day 13-7 to move into the quarter-finals as he seeks to make history.

Currently tied with Stephen Hendry on seven world championship wins, O'Sullivan revealed the lengths that he's going to to ensure that he's firing on all cylinders.

"I’m doing 16 or 17 hours fasting," he said. "I try to stop eating 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 today, just before my match. It’s great. I feel good. If I eat too much, I get sluggish.

"Animals in the forest 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."

He added: "The fasting started when I was antibiotics and I needed to stop eating to give my stomach a break"

Asked what he eats when he breaks his fast, O'Sullivan said: "Cantonese, some dim sum.

"When I’m breaking my fast I want to make sure it’s something I really like.

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

O'Sullivan is now facing Stuart Bingham for a spot in the semi-finals.