Terry Griffiths believes that grass-roots snooker has never been stronger

Former world champion Terry Griffiths has disputed the view of current champion Ronnie O'Sullivan that snooker is a "dying" sport.

Griffiths, 61, admits that the top prize money has diminished but says the sport remains robust and healthy.

"The game will always be good no matter who's playing or not playing in tournaments," Griffiths told BBC Wales.

"When you're looking at the amateur side of the game, it's never, ever been so good."

O'Sullivan said with tournaments offering less prize money, he might be reluctant to "go to Ireland for 30 grand or go to China for 40 grand".

David Vine was a lot of fun to work with but very professional Terry Griffiths

"The people who are running snooker seem to be going backwards. Nothing seems to be happening and it just feels boring and the sport is dying," O'Sullivan added.

The player nicknamed 'The Rocket' has also called for someone to put the glitz back into snooker, using the television programme X Factor as an example.

"I don't agree with the comments of Ronnie O'Sullivan," Griffiths added. "I've got to be honest with you, I think it's very poor as a matter of fact what he was saying.

"He was on about not going to China for not enough prize money and all that - there's many players... that would give anything to go to China to play.

"All right, they're not earning as much money as they were in the prime times in perhaps the 1980s and 90s, but it's not a bad living I can tell you for the players playing this game if they're any good."

Griffiths also paid tribute to veteran BBC sports broadcaster David Vine, who has died of a heart attack at the age of 73.

"He was very special to us all, especially to myself as a player in David's days," Griffiths said.

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"He'll be remembered for probably the early days of the television era of our sport - which was in the late 70s and 80s - when he was the face of snooker in the studio all the time.

"He was excellent at his job... he was very friendly with everybody, part of his job is to get to know the players better to improve his interviews when they came along.

"He... helped you out if you needed a little bit of advice on something, he was part and parcel of the tournament circuit we were on.

"He was very easy to work with, he always seemed to ask you the right questions at the right time... he was a lot of fun to work with but very professional."

Griffiths won the world title on his debut in 1979, was runner-up in 1989, and spent 17 years in the top 16.

After retiring in 1996 he went on to coach double world champion Mark Williams.

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