World Grand Prix Snooker in Hong Kong set to carry record prize money fund


Set to exclusively feature the top 32 players from this season's one-year ranking list, the World Grand Prix is the opening leg of the latest three-pronged Players Series alongside the Players Championship and Tour Championship events which will be held later in the term.
It is the first time that the World Grand Prix will be played outside of the United Kingdom, and the first time since 1989 that Hong Kong will host a ranking event on the professional snooker circuit.
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Alongside the World Snooker Tour, F-Sports Promotions will showcase the tournament, with the Billiard Sports Council of Hong Kong China helping support it.
The 2025 World Grand Prix will be held at the Kai Tak Arena within the new, state-of-the-art Kai Tak Sports Park. The impressive venue has a capacity of 4,000 - should spectators fill it, it would represent a record live audience for a ranking event.
As well as a new location, prize money at this year's World Grand Prix has been heavily increased, with the biggest first prize and overall prize fund in the tournament's history.
The champion will pocket £180,000 - this is up £80,000 from last season, and the total prize pot is now £700,000 (last season this was £380,000).
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THIS Break from O'Sullivan! 😮💨
— WST (@WeAreWST) January 21, 2025
The Rocket won the World Grand Prix #OTD in 2024! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/LuzlLuLQPl
Ronnie O'Sullivan is the reigning champion having defeated Judd Trump in last year's final in Leicester to claim the title for the third time in his career.
Despite his issues this season, O'Sullivan is almost certain to be inside the top 32 cutoff following the Welsh Open in mid-February.
A host of other big names are also set to earn an invite, including world number one Trump, and reigning World Champion Kyren Wilson.
It appears that the format for the upcoming edition will remain the same as previous years, with multiple 'roll on, roll off' matches taking place - presumably with best of seven matches early on.
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Unless he was to have a very deep run at the Welsh Open - the final counting event in terms of qualification - Hong Kong's greatest-ever player Marco Fu will not be playing in this year's World Grand Prix. However, it was announced during the recent launch that exhibition matches will also take place at the Kai Tak Arena, with Fu involved.
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