Saudi Arabia Masters Draw Announced
The world’s best players have learned their fates, with the announcement of the draw for the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
The finest cueists on the planet will converge on Riyadh later this month to contest the sport’s fourth major. The event takes place from August 30th to September 7th.
The Saudi Snooker Masters is part of the country’s investment to help grow the sport in the Kingdom and across the Middle East. As well as hosting international events, the Saudi Billiard and Snooker Federation is investing in grass roots facilities, events and promotions to help inspire its young population into the sport.
Tickets for this showpiece event are now on sale. Click here to book now.
The field includes 17 local wildcards nominated by the Saudi Arabian Billiard and Snooker Federation, including seven Saudi players. Their first round matches are:
Abdulraouf Saigh v Robbie McGuigan – Friday August 30th – 2pm
Faisal Bahashwan v Oliver Lines – Friday August 30th – 2pm
Saleh Alamoudi v Dean Young – Friday 30th August – Not Before 9pm
Abdullah Alotayyani v Ben Mertens – Friday 30th August – NB 3pm
Ziyad Alqabbani v Stan Moody – Friday 30th August – NB 9pm
Ayman Alamri v Haydon Pinhey – Friday 30th August – 8pm
Omar Alajlani v Rory Thor – Friday 30th August – 2pm
Other notable first round ties include all-time legend Jimmy White taking on United Arab Emirates’ Mohammed Shehab, while former World Champion Ken Doherty meets European Under-21 Champion Liam Davies.
The sport’s top 16 players, including seven-time World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, world number one Mark Allen, current World Champion Kyren Wilson and 28-time ranking event winner Judd Trump, will be in action from September 3rd .
Potential opening opponents for O’Sullivan include Hossein Vafaei and Joe Perry, while Trump could face the likes of close friend Jack Lisowski or Matthew Stevens.
World number two Trump said: “Everyone is really excited to have an opportunity to play in an event which compares with the World Championship. To have something so early on and not just rely on the World Championship at the end of the season is really good,” said 35-year-old Trump.
“It is nice for everyone to be playing for big money and you feel that all the work you’ve put in over the years pays off if you do well.
“There are more and more tournaments around the world. Now is the time where all eyes are on snooker and now is the time to expand and take tournaments to different places. It is great to be able to travel more doing what we love.”
The action will be broadcast live on Eurosport, Matchroom Live and a range of other broadcasters to be announced soon.
In total there will be 144 players in the field. The round structure is as follows:
Round one: Seeds 81-112 v seeds 113-144 (August 30th)
Round two: Those 32 winners v seeds 49-80 (August 31st)
Round three: Those 32 winners v seeds 17-48 (September 1st)
Round four: Those 32 winners play each other (September 2nd)
Round five: Those 16 winners v seeds 1-16 in the last 32 (September 3rd)
Article by WST.