Xiao Guodong and Bai Yulu skip big-money Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters to play in World Games on home soil
Two of China's superstar snooker players - current Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong and reigning world women's champion Bai Yulu - will not take part in the upcoming Saudi Arabia Masters.
The £2.3 million world ranking event - labelled by authorities as snooker's 'fourth major' - is set to take place at Green Halls, Prince Abdullah AlFaisal Sports City in Jeddah between August 8-16. The champion in the Middle East will pocket a £500,000 top prize - the same amount Zhao Xintong scooped for winning the sport's blue riband competition at the Crucible Theatre just a few months ago.
Last year, world number one Judd Trump won the inaugural edition of the event, in Riyadh, when he ousted Mark Williams 10-9 on the final black in one of the most astonishing finishes to a ranking event in professional snooker history.
Once again, this year's staging will feature 144 players, who will all compete at the Green Halls; unlike other events on the circuit which hold early/qualifying rounds at a different venue, and often in a different country.
The draw for the 2025 tournament was released on the World Snooker Tour website on Sunday, but the names of both Xiao and Bai were missing from the sheet.
It appears that both Xiao and Bai will instead be representing their country by playing at the 2025 World Games on home soil in Chengdu, China between August 7-17.
It is understood that the World Snooker Tour and the governing body the World Professional Billiards Snooker and Association (WPBSA) don’t currently have any involvement with the administration of snooker events at the World Games, which could explain the clash in dates for two such big events.
What are the World Games and how long has snooker been involved in them?
The World Games is a global spectacular held every four years for sports that are not currently in the Olympic Games.
The upcoming 12th-edition Games held in China are set to feature around 5,000 athletes from 118 different nations.
Cuesports/billiard sports have been part of the World Games programme since making their debut in Akita, Japan in 2001. As well as snooker, three-cushion billiards and American pool are the other baize disciplines on show.
Former professional player Bjorn Haneveer from Belgium was snooker's first gold medallist in the Games; since then, Gerard Greene (2005), Nigel Bond (2009), Aditya Mehta (2013), Kyren Wilson (2017) and Ka Wai Cheung (2022) have stepped up to the top step of the podium to collect gold.
At the 2025 World Games, there are set to be two snooker events - a men's tournament (using the traditional 15-reds format) and a women's 6-reds competition. Elsewhere on the tables, there are three-cushion billiards and 10-ball pool events for both men and women, and what appears to be a mixed-gender heyball (Chinese 8-ball pool) event.
Xiao's name is on the entry list for the men’s snooker. Other notable entries include former Shoot Out winner Michael Georgiou (Cyprus) and recent ex-professionals Muhammad Asif (Pakistan) and Darryl Hill (United Kingdom).
Bai - who successfully defended the biggest prize in women's snooker several weeks back - leads the list of entries for the women's event.
Ng On Yee and Michal Szubarczyk apparently qualified for this year's World Games having won IBSF world events, but both players have elected to play in the Saudi Arabia Masters instead.
Mohamed Shebab from the United Arab Emirates - another current World Snooker Tour professional - is listed for the men’s snooker event in Chengdu, but he is also in the draw for the Saudi Arabia Masters where he is scheduled to play amateur wildcard Abdullah Alotayyani in round one. Which event he’ll appear in seems uncertain.
Currently ranked number 13 in the world following his best-ever season on the professional tour, it is a big deal for Xiao opting to miss the Saudi Arabia Masters - a tournament he would have started off in the last 32 and be guaranteed at least £20,000 in prize money for simply turning up.
It is unclear whether fellow countrymen Ding Junhui (a silver medallist in 2005), Zhao Xintong or Zhang Anda - who are all currently ahead of Xiao in the world rankings - were offered the chance to play in the World Games in their home country, but the lure of the mutli-sports showcase appears to be too big for both Xiao and Bai to turn down.
It is also possible that Xiao and Bai may have obligations to play in the World Games - but that’s just speculation.
There has been a lot of talk in recent times about players performing at events away from the World Snooker Tour. It is possible given the clash and magnitude of the World Games that Xiao, Bai and Shebab - who will all have signed player contracts with the company - have needed to seek permission to play in them.
A big beneficiary of Xiao’s decision not to compete in Jeddah is world number 17 Ali Carter, who goes up one place and becomes a top 16 seed for the event. This means he starts his campaign in the last 32 and will avoid the bother of playing in rounds three and four.