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World Snooker Tour – Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker RIYADH Season World Masters of Snooker
The first-ever World Series of Snooker (WST) tournament to take place in Saudi Arabia is scheduled for March 4-6, 2024, during the inaugural Riyadh Season.
Along with WST, HE Advisor Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority’s (GEA) Board of Directors, stated that the competition will take place in January 2024. Eight of the best snooker players in the world, including seven-time World Snooker Championship winner Ronnie O’Sullivan, 2019 World Champion Judd Trump, and current champion Luca Brecel, will compete in the invitational event at Boulevard Arena in Boulevard City, Riyadh.
The top eight athletes according to the official world rankings as at the conclusion oftop eight players in the official world rankings as it stands at the end of the Players Championship (February 19-25 2024) will qualify for the tournament, in a ten-player field alongside two wild cards. The two wild cards will face the players seeded seventh and eighth, with the winners of those two matches going into the quarter-finals. Luca Brecel will be top seed as World Champion, with the remaining seedings based on ranking order. Further details of the format will be announced soon
Every match will follow World Snooker’s rules and regulations, but a unique new idea will be added: a 23rd ball called the Riyadh Season ball. The gold ball has a value of 20 points and can only be potted if a player is on a maximum break to make it 167 and all other balls have been successfully removed from the table.
In the presence of Turki Alalshikh, HE Advisor, Eddie and Barry Hearn, sports promoters, and Eng. Faisal Bafarat, CEO of GEA, the Chairman of the World Snooker Tour, signed the agreement for this tournament.
“We are thrilled to be hosting our first-ever professional snooker tournament in the Kingdom,” HE Advisor Turki Alalshikh stated. Pool Snooker
“We are thrilled to be hosting our first-ever professional snooker tournament in the Kingdom,” advisor Turki Alalshikh stated. Millions of people watch and play snooker worldwide, and we are excited to have some of the best players and snooker enthusiasts visit our nation and show them what Saudi Arabia and the Riyadh Season have to offer.
“The World Snooker Tour is extremely honored to collaborate with HE Advisor Turki Alalshikh to host an event in Saudi Arabia for the first time,” stated Steve Dawson.
We regard this as the start of a new chapter for our sport in the area. This is a significant breakthrough for snooker into a new territory.
We regard this as the start of a new chapter for our sport in the area and as a significant advancement for snooker into uncharted terrain.
We are excited to participate in this amazing new tournament, which will showcase the top players in the world, during Riyadh Season. It will be our pleasure to introduce our sport to the magnificent city of Riyadh, and this will be the local fans’ first opportunity to witness some of the greatest snooker players ever.
