World Grand Prix snooker likely to be heading to Hong Kong

There has been activity on social media over the last few days about the future location of the prestigious ranking event following published articles online from both Hong Kong Billiards Sports and the South China Morning Post.

Totally Snookered reached out to the WST, who have confirmed they are in advanced discussions with partners in Hong Kong to hold the tournament this season, and are hoping to officially announce details in the coming weeks.

Due to laws on hosting sports events in the country, organisers in Hong Kong are obliged to publicly announce intentions through an invitation to tender, hence why there has already been communication online about a potential new home for the World Grand Prix.

It is suggested the event will be held at the Kai Tak Sports Park - a new 10,000-seat venue - in the first quarter of 2025, depending on its availability.

There has been some confusion online whether this would be a new event, but the WST spokesperson confirmed it is the existing World Grand Prix which remains as the opening leg of the three-pronged Players Series alongside the Players Championship and Tour Championship.

Both the 2025 Players Championship (Telford, 17-23 March) and 2025 Tour Championship (Manchester, 31 March-6 April) are already scheduled on this season's calendar, but the dates and location for the World Grand Prix - which would need to be played before the Players Championship - have yet to be mentioned.

Despite the potential move to the Far East there are no plans to change the format of the competition with only the top 32 players from the one-year ranking list invited to compete. However, as is often the case with Asian events, local wildcards may also take part.

Since the creation of the very popular Players Series several years ago, all events have been held in the United Kingdom with host broadcaster ITV continuing to support the Series with live televised and online coverage throughout the three events from start to finish. WST are keen for this event to remain on ITV and talks are ongoing.

Hong Kong has a rich snooker history having initially hosted professional invitational events from the 1980s. The Hong Kong Masters returned in 2017 and 2022; at the latter installment, Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated home hero Marco Fu in the final in front of 9,000 spectators at the Hong Kong Coliseum - a record for a live snooker audience at a venue.

In 1989, the country hosted its one and only ranking event to date - the Hong Kong Open - when Mike Hallett ousted Dene O'Kane 9-8 in the final. This was the first professional ranking event ever to be held in Asia.

As well as three-time ranking event winner Fu, Hong Kong has had several professional players down the years, including three-time world women's champion Ng On Yee. This season, Cheung Ka Wai plays his maiden professional campaign having won the World Snooker Federation Championship earlier in the year and Wang Yuchen returns to the tour after graduating from the UK Q School.

Elsewhere in cuesports, Hong Kong's Robbie Capito recently won the UK Open 9-Ball Pool Championship - a big event on the World Nineball Tour.

These are exciting times for the sport as the World Snooker Tour continues to expand globally. This season there is another new ranking event in China (Xi'an Grand Prix) as well as the inaugural edition of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters which is set to hold a prize fund in excess of £2 million.

There are also rumours of further events to be held in the Middle East, including in Qatar.