China to host Snooker World Open

LONDON: The Chinese city of Haikou will stage the World Open for the next five years, World Snooker announced Monday.

The event, which will be known as the Haikou World Open, will become the third major snooker tournament after the China Open and the Shanghai Masters to be staged in the country -- a sign of the sport's rising popularity in China where players such as Ding Junhui now have a huge following.

World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn told the governing body's official website: "We are delighted to announce the staging of the World Open in Haikou for the next five years.

"The popularity of snooker in China continues to grow at a phenomenal rate and we have capitalised on that by establishing a third full ranking event, alongside the China Open and Shanghai Masters.

"We expect to make more announcements about events in China in the coming weeks," added Hearn, who made his name in snooker as the manager of former world champion Steve Davis, the sport's leading player in the 1980s.

Haikou is on Hainan Island in south China and Hearn said: "Hainan Island is one of the most beautiful places on Earth and an ideal place to stage one of our world ranking tournaments.

This season the event will run from February 27 to March 4. All the world's top 16 players are automatically seeded into the event, to be joined by 16 players who come through the qualifying rounds.

There will also be eight wild cards at the final venue.

All matches up to and including the quarter-finals will be best of nine frames. Total prize money is #400,000 ($617,962) with the winner to collect #75,000 ($115,879).

The World Open, formerly known as the Grand Prix and LG Cup, adopted its current name in 2010, when Australia's Neil Robertson won the title in Glasgow. (AFP)