World Snooker's u-turn after stepping on Rocket's blue shoes in Barnsley

The 41-year-old wore blue trainers during his 4-1 victory over Zhang Anda in the opening round on Tuesday due to a sprained ankle but was told by the game’s governing body to correct his footwear for his match against Mark Davis.

In response, O’Sulivan threatened to pull out of tournament and posted a picture of his injured ankle on Twitter.

However, World Snooker said in a statement on Wednesday that it had exempted the five-time world champion from “standard dress code protocol” in order for O’Sullivan to “help manage the effects of an ankle injury”.

“World Snooker has a dress code for all tournaments, but where players are injured they are given the opportunity to demonstrate medical reasons to show why they cannot adhere to certain parts of the dress code,” the statement said.

“Each case is dealt with individually. Ronnie O’Sullivan has been given an exemption to use footwear at the English Open which helps manage the effects of an ankle injury.”