The draw for the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters was introduced by the World Snooker Tour on Wednesday.
One of many sport’s richest ever rating tournaments will happen in a few weeks on the Inexperienced Halls in Riyadh.
A complete prize fund of simply over £2.3 million means it comes second solely to the blue-riband World Snooker Championship itself.
However the jackpot £500,000 champion’s cheque will match the one awarded to Kyren Wilson for capturing glory on the Crucible Theatre in Might.
It’s the first time that there might be a rating occasion held in Saudi Arabia, coming just some months after the nation staged the invitational World Masters received by Ronnie O’Sullivan.
On this event, each skilled may have the chance to take part as snooker takes additional groundbreaking steps into a brand new profitable market.
Some followers have expressed disappointment that snooker authorities have joined a spread of different sports activities in putting a partnership with Saudi Arabia.
The nation has a questionable human rights report and has been accused up to now of sportswashing.
On the opposite facet of the coin, nevertheless, gamers now have an elevated likelihood to earn extra from the sport – particularly necessary for these additional down the rankings.
It’s anticipated that this match will act as a gateway to others in Saudi Arabia sooner or later.
The 2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters draw has the same outlook to the one adopted for the World and UK Championships.
Beginner wildcards – 17 from the Center Japanese area and 7 from Saudi Arabia itself – assist to make up the 144-strong area.
Gamers will enter the fray in staggered tiered rounds primarily based on their rankings, with the highest 16 seeded via to the final 32 like in Sheffield.
All matches will happen on the venue, with the match operating from August thirtieth to September seventh.
The motion might be broadcast dwell on Eurosport, Matchroom Stay and a spread of different broadcasters to be introduced quickly.
2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters Draw
Spherical 1 (Aug thirtieth)
(Seeds 81-112 v seeds 113-144)
1. Rory Thor vs Omar Alajlani
2. Baipat Siripaporn vs Mohamed Elkhayat
3. Chris Totten vs Haris Tahir
4. Michael Holt vs Ahmad Abul
5. Mink Nutcharut vs Kusai Hamed
6. Reanne Evans vs Simon Blackwell
7. Artemijs Zizins vs Lim Kok Leong
8. Robbie McGuigan vs Abdulraouf Saigh
9. Liam Graham vs Ali Hussain Ali
10. Oliver Traces vs Faisal Bahashwan
11. Cheung Ka Wait vs Joshua Thomand
12. Lei Peifan vs Bai Yulu
13. Allan Taylor vs Adeel Aqdus
14. Farakh Ajaib vs Haitham Al Mahri
15. Julien Leclercq vs Dylan Emery
16. Jimmy White vs Mohamed Shehab
17. Andrew Pagett vs Wang Yuchen
18. Huang Jiahao vs Ahmed Elsayed
19. Ben Mertens vs Abdullah Alotayyani
20. Antoni Kowalski vs Habib Sabah
21. Gong Chenzhi vs Ali Jalil Ali
22. Mitchell Mann vs Paul Deaville
23. Bulcsú Révész vs Iulian Boiko
24. Dean Younger vs Saleh Alamoudi
25. Mostafa Dorgham vs Jonas Luz
26. Haydon Pinhey vs Ayman Alamri
27. Manasawin Phetmalaikul vs Amir Sarkhosh
28. Zak Surety vs Ali Alobaidli
29. Duane Jones vs Khalid Alkamali
30. Liam Davies vs Ken Doherty
31. Kreishh Gurbaxani vs Sunny Akani
32. Stan Moody vs Ziyad Alqabbani
Spherical 2 (Aug thirty first)
(Winners of R1 vs seeds 49-80)
33. Hammad Miah vs Winner of match 1
34. Jimmy Robertson vs Winner of match 2
35. Ashley Carty vs Winner of match 3
36. Liu Hongyu vs Winner of match 4
37. Anthony Hamilton vs Winner of match 5
38. Xing Zihao vs Winner of match 6
39. Xu Si vs Winner of match 7
40. Ma Hailong vs Winner of match 8
41. Ishpreet Singh Chadha vs Winner of match 9
42. Ben Woollaston vs Winner of match 10
43. Louis Heathcote vs Winner of match 11
44. Jamie Clarke vs Winner of match 12
45. Aaron Hill vs Winner of match 13
46. Stuart Carrington vs Winner of match 14
47. Graeme Dott vs Winner of match 15
48. Andrew Higginson vs Winner of match 16
49. Alexander Ursenbacher vs Winner of match 17
50. Martin O’Donnell vs Winner of match 18
51. Lengthy Zehuang vs Winner of match 19
52. He Guoqiang vs winner of match 20
53. David Grace vs Winner of match 21
54. Ian Burns vs Winner of match 22
55. Mark Davis vs Winner of match 23
56. Alfie Burden vs Winner of match 24
57. Jiang Jun vs Winner of match 25
58. David Lilley vs Winner of match 26
59. Ross Muir vs Winner of match 27
60. Sanderson Lam vs Winner of match 28
61. Daniel Wells vs Winner of match 29
62. Marco Fu vs Winner of match 30
63. Tian Pengfei vs Winner of match 31
64. Liam Pullen vs Winner of match 32
Spherical 3 (Sept 1st)
(Winners of R2 vs seeds 17-48)
65. Robert Milkins vs Winner of match 33
66. Fan Zhengyi vs Winner of match 34
67. Anthony McGill vs Winner of match 35
68. Ricky Walden vs Winner of match 36
69. Jamie Jones vs Winner of match 37
70. Stuart Bingham vs Winner of match 38
71. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Winner of match 39
72. Chris Wakelin vs Winner of match 40
73. Hossein Vafaei vs Winner of match 41
74. Joe Perry vs Winner of match 42
75. Joe O’Connor vs Winner of match 43
76. Robbie Williams vs Winner of match 44
77. Matthew Selt vs Winner of match 45
78. Pang Junxu vs Winner of match 46
79. Sam Craigie vs Winner of match 47
80. Si Jiahui vs Winner of match 48
81. Jack Lisowski vs Winner of match 49
82. Matthew Stevens vs Winner of match 50
83. Stephen Maguire vs Winner of match 51
84. Wu Yize vs Winner of match 52
85. Jackson Web page vs Winner of match 53
86. Neil Robertson vs Winner of match 54
87. Jordan Brown vs Winner of match 55
88. David Gilbert vs Winner of match 56
89. Zhou Yuelong vs Winner of match 57
90. Elliot Slessor vs Winner of match 58
91. Noppon Saengkham vs Winner of match 59
92. Yuan Sijun vs winner of match 60
93. Xiao Guodong vs winner of match 61
94. Lyu Haotian vs Winner of match 62
95. Scott Donaldson vs Winner of match 63
96. Ryan Day vs Winner of match 64
Spherical 4 (Sept 2nd)
(Winners of R3 play one another)
97. Winner of match 65 vs winner of match 66
98. Winner of match 67 vs winner of match 68
99. Winner of match 69 vs winner of match 70
100. Winner of match 71 vs winner of match 72
101. Winner of match 73 vs winner of match 74
102. Winner of match 75 vs winner of match 76
103. Winner of match 77 vs winner of match 78
104. Winner of match 79 vs winner of match 80
105. Winner of match 81 vs winner of match 82
106. Winner of match 83 vs winner of match 84
107. Winner of match 85 vs winner of match 86
108. Winner of match 87 vs winner of match 88
109. Winner of match 89 vs winner of match 90
110. Winner of match 91 vs winner of match 92
111. Winner of match 93 vs winner of match 94
112. Winner of match 95 vs winner of match 96
Spherical 5 (Sept third)
(Winners of R4 vs Prime 16 seeds)
Kyren Wilson vs Winner of match 97
John Higgins vs Winner of match 98
Mark Williams vs Winner of match 99
Ding Junhui vs Winner of match 100
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Winner of match 101
Zhang Anda vs Winner of match 102
Tom Ford vs Winner of match 103
Luca Brecel vs Winner of match 104
Judd Trump vs Winner of match 105
Jak Jones vs Winner of match 106
Gary Wilson vs Winner of match 107
Mark Selby vs Winner of match 108
Shaun Murphy vs Winner of match 109
Ali Carter vs Winner of match 110
Barry Hawkins vs Winner of match 111
Mark Allen vs Winner of match 112
What else concerning the format?
Matches would be the better of seven frames within the first three rounds, one of the best of 9 within the following two, and one of the best of 11 thereafter till the best-of-19 body closing.
World quantity two Judd Trump stated: “Everybody is absolutely excited to have a chance to play in an occasion which compares with the World Championship.”
“To have one thing so early on and never simply depend on the World Championship on the finish of the season is absolutely good.”
“It’s good for everybody to be enjoying for giant cash and you are feeling that each one the work you’ve put in through the years pays off in case you do properly.”
“There are increasingly tournaments all over the world.
“Now’s the time the place all eyes are on snooker and now’s the time to develop and take tournaments to completely different locations.
“It’s nice to have the ability to journey extra doing what we love.”
Featured picture credit score: WST
