The Saudi Arabian snooker competition will take place in the capital, Riyadh, from March 4 to 6, in which the top eight in the world ranking and two invited athletes will participate. So far, reigning world champion Luca Brecel, seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and 2019 world champion Judd Trump are confirmed to participate. The remaining seven contestants will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Saudis have taken the tournament with a bang and are even changing the rules of the game a bit. While there are usually 22 balls on the table (15 red, plus one yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black), the new tournament will also introduce a gold ball, which is worth 20 points.
According to Sky Sports, the golden ball can be hit when the player has hit all the other balls in order to have a maximum streak of 147 points.
World Snooker Tour series president Steve Dawson said it was a “great privilege” to host a snooker tournament in Saudi Arabia. “It’s a big step forward when snooker reaches a new country. We see this as the start of a new journey for our sport in this region,” Dawson told the BBC.
Officially called the Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker, the prize pool amounts to one million US dollars.
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2024-01-20 16:11:21
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