Hong Kong Masters snooker tournament on course for October with ‘closed loop’
- Officials announce line-up for 8-player tournament featuring likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and Mark Selby
- It comes after government’s late cap on numbers at running and swimming races plunged other sports events into uncertainty
Snooker bosses held a press conference on Friday to announce their latest plans, which include the players remaining in a bubble between their hotel and tournament venue the Hong Kong Coliseum, instead of undergoing the hotel quarantine usually required for arrivals in the city.
Current world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and former world champions Mark Selby and Judd Trump were among the players announced on Friday for the tournament, to be held between October 6 and 9. A capacity of 8,000 spectators is expected, which could result in the world’s highest ever attendance for a snooker event.
Vincent Law Wing-chung, the chairman of the Hong Kong Billiard Sports Control Council, said details of the closed loop – the model used for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics – were still to be finalised, but a balance was being struck between the requirements of the city’s government and those of the snooker governing body.
“Players will not be allowed to go out freely – they will be protected inside the bubble,” Law said. “One of the conditions that the World Snooker Tour imposed on us to host this event was that if there was quarantine, they would not allow their players to come here.