Snooker stars get bonus summer trip to China with invitational event
Some of the biggest names in snooker are heading to Huangguoshu in China for a new event this week run by the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association (CBSA).
There was plenty of interest as a poster emerged on social media advertising the event in Huangguoshu running from 1-5 August and featuring a number of recognisable faces.
John Higgins, Judd Trump, Stephen Hendry, Jack Lisowski, Mark Allen and Kyren Wilson were among those featured, with Ryan Day also confirmed to play, making the new tournament a pretty stellar one.
The event run by the CBSA is much like the Haining Open, which has been run by the same organisation since 2016 and has featured World Snooker Tour professionals.
Mark Selby won the Haining Open twice, while Matt Selt and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh have also lifted the title.
Worlds Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) chairman Jason Ferguson explains that the partnership with the CBSA allows main tour professionals to compete in the odd event of this kind as part of the CBSA Tour.
‘We have an agreement with the CBSA, a long-standing agreement, and we work together on a number of ranking events plus the Shanghai Masters,’ Ferguson told Metro.co.uk. ‘We co-operate in a number of other areas to do with academies, training, general sports development, pathways to the tour and the CBSA Tour falls within that.
‘There’s one or two events that pop up each year where the CBSA make a request for tour players to play in them and those requests are generally granted. But it’s limited under the agreement, there’s a finite number of events.
‘But we’re very supportive because the CBSA are a long-term strategic partner. They’re not doing these events to break away or create opposing events. They’re doing these events to help us help promote the sport in new areas. It’s all part of a plan.
‘It’s exactly the same as the Haining Open. That has always done quite well.
‘It will be streamed through our existing partners in China. We’ve got exclusive TV agreements in China and it is those agreements that will pick that up.’
The CBSA Tour is a route onto the professional tour, so there was some confusion on the promotional material as to why the term ‘China Professional Snooker Tour’ was included.
Asked whether the CBSA Tour could be considered professional, Ferguson said: ‘Not really. It’s the CBSA Tour and they’re trying to professionalise a couple of those events, but it’s not an independent tour setting up, it’s part of a wider partnership that we’ve got.’
The official promotional video for the event in Huangguoshu which begins on 1st August and sees some of the biggest names in snooker return to China for the first time in four years.
More information to follow ð
Weâve missed China so much pic.twitter.com/a8n5bF4Ryb
The event fits in a gap in the WST calendar between the European Masters qualifiers and the British Open qualifying stages.
The tournament will feature 64 players in total, played in Huangguoshu, famed for its giant waterfall as the promoters look to develop snooker in the area.
The tournament is chiefly for CBSA Tour players with a handful of invitations to main tour players and is not comparable to the unsanctioned Macau Masters taking place in December.
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