Hong Kong snooker show at Kai Tak Sports Park

Article posted by Coliseum, November 8^th, 2024

Image: Kai Tak Sports Park

Hong Kong will hold its first ranking snooker event in 35 years when it welcomes the top players on the planet for the World Grand Prix from March 4^th-9^th, 2025.

‘WST’ stated that the event is set to take place at the brand-new Kai Tak Sports Park in Hong Kong which is a state-of-the-art facility set to open next year. When completed, the park will be the largest integrated sports and entertainment landmark in Hong Kong.

The World Grand Prix (snooker) is a professional ranking snooker tournament restricted to the top 32 players on the one-year ranking list. The inaugural edition was played in 2015 at the 1,500-capacity Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales (UK).

The 50,000-capacity Kai Tak Sports Park is a multipurpose sports venue that is being built at the site of the former Kai Tak Airport in Kowloon, Hong Kong, as part of the Kai Tak Development. The sports park will be located on the North Western part of the old Kai Tak Airport where some of the parking stands used to be. With an area of around 28 hectares, the Kai Tak Sports Park anchors the redevelopment of the former airport site and offers a world-class destination for all interests. It is scheduled to open in 2025.

‘WST’ further stated that The Grand Hall in the Kai Tak Arena for the World Grand Prix will have a capacity of over 4,000 with the ambition to play host to snooker’s biggest ever live audience for a ranking tournament. The World Grand Prix is the opening event in the prestigious Players Series where only the most successful 32 performers of the season will earn a place.

The prize money for the tournament will be boosted by a massive 84 percent compared to last year’s total fund rising from £380,000 to £700,000. The top prize jumps from £100,000 to £180,000.

In 2022, the Hong Kong Masters saw the world’s best players congregate for a prestigious invitational event. Ronnie O’Sullivan (English snooker player) defeated Marco Fu (Hong Kong snooker player) 6-4 in the final which was played in front of a world record crowd of over 9,000 in the 12,500-capacity Hong Kong Coliseum in Hong Kong. The only previous ranking event in the City was way back in 1989 when Mike Hallett (English former snooker player) defeated Dene O’Kane (New Zealand snooker player) 9-8 in the final of the Hong Kong Open.

The 1989 Hong Kong Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament that was held from August 7^th-13^th, 1989 at the 20,000-capacity Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong.

Stated Simon Brownell, World Snooker Tour (WST) head honcho, “We are hugely excited to be taking such a massive event to Hong Kong. This is a move which is in line with our strategy to have a greater distribution of snooker’s biggest tournaments around the world and further globalize the sport. Hong Kong is a territory and market of particular significance for us and we are delighted to be utilizing this new world-class venue. Having a long-term ranking event in such a prominent global City is fantastic news for the tour. We were impressed by the levels of support at the Hong Kong Masters (a professional invitational snooker tournament) in 2022. The 9,000 fans in attendance for the final created a magical atmosphere. We would like to thank the F Sports Promotions for bringing us back to Hong Kong and we look forward to working again with the Billiard Sports Council of Hong Kong China in this prestigious event.”

Bristol (UK)-based the World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour consisting of about 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. The World Snooker Tour is administered by the World Snooker Limited, the commercial arm of professional snooker, which introduced the World Snooker Tour name, logo and revised website as part of a 2020 rebranding.

Further details including ticket information will be announced soon.

The World Open in China will now take place from February 24^th-March 2^nd, 2025.

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