2024 Snooker Championship (Riyadh)
 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 18–20 December 2024 |
| Venue | Global Theatre |
| City | Boulevard City, Riyadh |
| Country | Saudi Arabia |
| Organisation | World Snooker Tour |
| Format | Non-ranking event |
| Defending champion | Ronnie O'Sullivan |
The 2024 Snooker Championship (officially the 2024 Riyadh Season Snooker Championship) is an ongoing professional non-ranking snooker tournament that is taking place from 18 to 20 December 2024 at the Global Theatre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Organised by the World Snooker Tour and part of the Riyadh Season festival in the entertainment district Boulevard City within Riyadh, it uses a non-standard 20-point gold ball called the "Riyadh Season ball", which can only be potted after a player has completed a maximum break of 147 to extend the break to 167. The event is broadcast worldwide by DAZN as well as other local broadcasters.
The event features 12 players, including the top ten players on the snooker world rankings, as well as two local wildcard players, Abdulraouf Saigh and Ahmed Aseeri from Saudi Arabia.
Ronnie O'Sullivan is the defending champion, having defeated Luca Brecel 5–2 in the previous final.[1]
Format
[edit]| Colour | Value |
|---|---|
 Red |
1 point |
 Yellow |
2 points |
 Green |
3 points |
 Brown |
4 points |
 Blue |
5 points |
 Pink |
6 points |
 Black |
7 points |
 Riyadh Season ball |
20 points |
The event is taking place from 18 to 20 December in the entertainment district Boulevard City within Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.[2] The event was first held as the 2024 World Masters of Snooker in March 2024 (as part of the preceding 2023–24 season) as the first professional snooker event ever held in Saudi Arabia.
All matches are played as the best of seven frames except the final, which will be played as the best of nine frames.[2] The matches are played under regular snooker rules, but the event uses a gold ball worth 20 points, called the "Riyadh Season ball". The gold ball is placed on the centre of the baulk cushion, in line with the brown, blue, pink, and black balls. It can only be potted after a player has completed a maximum break of 147, to extend the break to 167. Fouling the gold ball awards 4 penalty points to the opponent. The gold ball stays on the table as long as it is possible for either player to complete a maximum break, then it's removed from the table until the next frame.[3][4]
Participants
[edit]The event features twelve players, including the top ten players on the snooker world rankings, with the defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan seeded first, the reigning World Champion Kyren Wilson seeded second, and the rest based on their rankings. It also features two local wildcard players, Abdulraouf Saigh and Ahmed Aseeri from Saudi Arabia, who qualified by winning a local qualifying tournament.[2][5]
Broadcasters
[edit]The tournament is broadcast worldwide by DAZN. It's also broadcast by the CBSA‑WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel, the CBSA‑WPBSA Academy Douyin and Huya Live in China; by Now TV in Hong Kong; by Astro SuperSport in Malaysia; by True Sports in Thailand; by TAP in the Philippines; by Sportcast in Taiwan; and by Sportstars and Vision+ in Indonesia.[6]
Prize money
[edit]The event featured a total prize pool of £785,000. An additional prize of $1,000,000 (about £787,000) will be given to the first player to compile a 167 break.[7] The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below:[8]
- Winner: £250,000
- Runner-up: £125,000
- Semi-finals: £75,000
- Quarter-finals: £50,000
- Round 2: £25,000
- Round 1: £5,000
- 167 break: $1,000,000 (about £787,000) for first made
- Total: £785,000
Tournament draw
[edit]Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the players' seedings, and players in bold denote match winners. All matches were played as the best of seven frames except the final, which was played as the best of nine frames.[2][9][10]
| Round 1 Best of 7 frames | Round 2 Best of 7 frames | Quarter-finals Best of 7 frames | Semi-finals Best of 7 frames | Final Best of 9 frames | |||||||||||||||
 Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) (1)
| 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
 Ding Junhui (CHN) (9)
| 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Shaun Murphy (ENG) (8)
| 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ding Junhui (CHN) (9)
| 4 | Ding Junhui (CHN) (9)
| 4 | ||||||||||||||||
 Abdulraouf Saigh (KSA)
| 0 | Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) (1)
| |||||||||||||||||
 Mark Allen (NIR) (5)
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Mark Selby (ENG) (4)
| 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Mark Allen (NIR) (5)
| 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Judd Trump (ENG) (3)
| 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
 Mark Williams (WAL) (6)
| 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Mark Williams (WAL) (6)
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Zhang Anda (CHN) (10)
| 4 |  Luca Brecel (BEL) (7)
| |||||||||||||||||
| Ahmed Aseeri (KSA)
| 0 | Luca Brecel (BEL) (7)
| 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| Zhang Anda (CHN) (10)
| 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Kyren Wilson (ENG) (2)
| 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Luca Brecel (BEL) (7)
| 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
Century breaks
[edit]A total of 11 century breaks have been made in the tournament.[11]
- 143, 122, 108 – Ding Junhui
- 134 – Zhang Anda
- 129, 113 – Ronnie O'Sullivan
- 120, 100 – Luca Brecel
- 107 – Judd Trump
- 103, 101 – Mark Williams
References
[edit]- ^ "Rocket rules in Riyadh". World Snooker Tour. 6 March 2024. Archived from the original on 7 March 2024. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Riyadh Season Snooker Championship 2024". snooker.org. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
- ^ "Saudi Arabia to host new snooker event with added 20-point golden ball". Sky Sports. 19 January 2024. Archived from the original on 22 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
- ^ "Saudi Arabia set to welcome first pro snooker event with ground breaking 167 prize". World Snooker Tour. 29 February 2024. Archived from the original on 2 March 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
- ^ "Two Local Stars To Join Riyadh Season Snooker Championship". World Snooker Tour. 16 December 2024.
- ^ "DAZN To Broadcast Riyadh Season Snooker Championship Worldwide And For Free". World Snooker Tour. 17 December 2024.
- ^ Imber, Leom (19 December 2024). "$1m or $10m? What is a worthy prize for Riyadh's elusive 167 break? Judd Trump, Ronnie O'Sullivan discuss gold ball maxi". Eurosport. Archived from the original on 19 December 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
- ^ "Riyadh Season Snooker Championship". World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original on 9 December 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
- ^ "Riyadh Season Snooker Championship Draw". World Snooker Tour. 8 December 2024.
- ^ "Riyadh Season Snooker matches". World Snooker Tour. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
- ^ "Tournament centuries". snookerinfo.co.uk. 18 December 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.