LONDON (Reuters) – Top-level snooker tournaments will return to China for the first time in four years with three events to be staged this year, the World Snooker Tour (WST) said on Saturday.
The last ranking tournament held in China was in 2019, after which the COVID-19 pandemic took the nation off the WST calendar.
“This is a momentous announcement for our sport as we ramp up our return to staging events in Asia,” WST Chairman Steve Dawson said in a statement on Saturday.
“Throughout the pandemic we maintained dialogue and relationships with the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association as well as our key partners and promoters across China.
“This has allowed us to make a fast return to staging key events now that travel restrictions have lifted.”
The three tournaments, with a combined prize fund in excess of two million pounds ($2.48 million), will be the Shanghai Masters invitational on Sept. 11-17, the Wuhan Open on Oct. 9-15 and the International Championship in a city still to be confirmed from Nov. 5-12.
“We promised our players that this was top of our agenda and we have delivered on that promise, adding more than two million pounds in prize money to the tour,” Dawson said.
“We will continue to explore opportunities to stage further events in China and beyond.”
($1 = 0.8056 pounds)
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Clare Fallon)
