In the 1995–96 season, O'Sullivan again did not capture any ranking titles but was victorious at the non-ranking Charity Challenge defeating John Higgins 9–6 in the final. As defending champion, O'Sullivan reached the final of the Masters, but lost his title 5–10 to Stephen Hendry. For the first time, O'Sullivan reached the World Championship semi-finals, but lost 14–16 to Peter Ebdon. After his 10–3 first round victory over Alain Robidoux, Robidoux accused O'Sullivan of showing "disrespect" after he had played left-handed during the match. Robidoux refused to shake hands with O'Sullivan at the end of the match. O'Sullivan responded by saying that he was "better left-handed than [Robidoux] is right-handed." Later during the tournament, before his quarter-final match with John Higgins, O'Sullivan was involved in an incident with assistant press officer, Michael Ganley, in the press room. O'Sullivan admitted to assaulting Ganley during the incident. For this snooker's governing body, the WPBSA, gave O'Sullivan a two-year suspended ban and a £20,000 fine, and advised him to donate £10,000 to charity, but allowed him to continue competing at the event.