Marco Fu has been one of many first to rejoice the choice to maneuver the World Grand Prix to his house area of Hong Kong.
The 32-player event will happen on the Kai Tak Sports activities Park, a brand new state-of-the-art facility, from March 4th to ninth in 2025.
There had been some confusion as to the place the World Grand Prix would find yourself this time period, with on-again and off-again rumours consistently circulating relating to its potential vacation spot.
However the World Snooker Tour formally introduced the transfer earlier on Friday, making it the primary rating occasion within the particular administrative area since 1989.
Mike Hallett received that yr’s Hong Kong Open with a 9-8 victory over Dene O’Kane, representing the Englishman’s sole rating glory.
The 2025 World Grand Prix, in the meantime, will characteristic the highest 32 gamers on the one-year rankings record as has been the norm in recent times.
Prize cash for the event might be boosted by an enormous 84% in comparison with final yr’s complete fund, rising from £380,000 to £700,000.
The highest prize jumps from £100,000 to £180,000, making it one of many richest cheques on provide on the calendar.
“The World Grand Prix is the highest 32 on the one-year record,” Marco Fu informed the World Snooker Tour.
“I feel you’re assured to see the highest names there, so I feel it’s the proper occasion for Hong Kong.”
“I can’t wait to hopefully be capable to play in it. But when not, then I’m positive it’s going to be an enormous success.
“I feel I’ll attempt even tougher now to hopefully qualify for that event, a really prestigious event.
“I used to be lucky sufficient to play in that event many instances in my profession, and hopefully I can have an opportunity to play in my homeland.
“I’ll attempt my perfect, however I feel I’m barely behind within the rankings, however there’s nonetheless fairly a couple of essential tournaments developing.
“Hopefully I can have a superb run right here this week and the UK Championship is developing, so let’s see what occurs.”
Marco Fu is presently down at quantity 52 on the one-year rankings record, £18,000 behind Jak Jones who’s within the thirty second and final qualifying place in the mean time.
| 1-12 months Snooker Rankings | Oct 18, 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Judd Trump | £631,200 |
| 2 | Kyren Wilson | £235,000 |
| 3 | Mark Williams | £223,000 |
| 4 | Xiao Guodong | £206,000 |
| 5 | Si Jiahui | £188,400 |
| 6 | Neil Robertson | £169,850 |
| 7 | Shaun Murphy | £138,800 |
| 8 | Mark Selby | £127,200 |
| 9 | Wu Yize | £86,000 |
| 10 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £85,500 |
| 11 | John Higgins | £72,350 |
| 12 | Jimmy Robertson | £72,100 |
| 13 | David Gilbert | £70,750 |
| 14 | Chris Wakelin | £70,400 |
| 15 | Zhang Anda | £62,750 |
| 16 | Jack Lisowski | £60,400 |
| 17 | Pang Junxu | £58,400 |
| 18 | Elliot Slessor | £57,350 |
| 19 | Mark Allen | £51,700 |
| 20 | Stuart Bingham | £51,400 |
| 21 | Ali Carter | £50,400 |
| 22 | Ben Woollaston | £50,000 |
| 23 | Gary Wilson | £49,900 |
| 24 | Barry Hawkins | £47550 |
| 25 | Hossein Vafaei | £47,400 |
| 26 | Thepchaiya Un-Nooh | £47,000 |
| 27 | Scott Donaldson | £46,350 |
| 28 | Lengthy Zehuang | £45,600 |
| 29 | Yuan Sijun | £45,400 |
| 30 | Matthew Selt | £45,250 |
| 31 | Xu Si | £40,250 |
| 32 | Jak Jones | £40,000 |
| — | — | — |
| 52 | Marco Fu | £22,000 |
| 79 | Luca Brecel | £14,400 |
| 88 | Ding Junhui | £12,000 |
| 113 | Tom Ford | £5,350 |
Who has received the World Grand Prix?
The World Grand Prix was launched in 2015 as an invitational occasion earlier than being upgraded to rating occasion standing a yr later.
Since 2019, it has been the primary leg of three on the Gamers Sequence that additionally consists of the Gamers and Tour Championships.
Final season, Ronnie O’Sullivan beat Judd Trump 10-7 to win the World Grand Prix for the third time in his profession.
Trump can be a three-time winner with Neil Robertson, Mark Allen, Shaun Murphy, and Barry Hawkins having etched their names onto the silverware previously as nicely.
The final time there was knowledgeable occasion in Hong Kong was the non-ranking Hong Kong Masters in 2022, when O’Sullivan beat house favorite Fu within the closing.
WST CEO Simon Brownell stated: “We’re vastly excited to be taking such an enormous occasion to Hong Kong.”
“This can be a transfer which is in keeping with our technique to have a higher distribution of snooker’s largest tournaments around the globe and additional globalise the game.
“Hong Kong is a territory and market of specific significance for us, and we’re delighted to be utilising this new world class venue.
“Having a long-term rating occasion in such a distinguished world metropolis is incredible information for the tour.
“We have been impressed by the degrees of help on the Hong Kong Masters in 2022. The 9,000 followers in attendance for the ultimate created a magical environment.
“We want to thank F Sports activities Promotions for bringing us again to Hong Kong and we sit up for working once more with the Billiard Sports activities Council of Hong Kong China on this prestigious occasion.”
Featured photograph credit score: WST
