Snooker stars O’Sullivan, Williams, Trump heading back to Hong Kong for all-star challenge
- Hong Kong Snooker All-Star Challenge will also feature local favourite Marco Fu, Jack Lisowski and China’s Si Jiahui
- Two-day tournament will be played at Queen Elizabeth Stadium on March 25 and 26
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Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and Mark Williams are returning to Hong Kong next year for the Hong Kong Snooker All-Star Challenge.
Local favourite Marco Fu Ka-chun, Jack Lisowski and China’s Si Jiahui complete the six-player line-up for the two-day event, which will be held at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium on March 25 and 26.
Only last week, Fu had said it would be difficult to bring back the Hong Kong Masters, which was held in October and saw the city star face O’Sullivan in the final.
Instead, Fu suggested it would be great if there were more invitational events that brought the world’s best back to the city.
And while that is happening in several months, it has been organised by private company Beyond Borders Sports Academy, not the game’s governing body in the city, the Hong Kong Billiard Sports Control Council.
Vincent Law Wing-chung, the council’s chairman, said the event had “nothing to do with us”, and also revealed it had not been sanctioned by the World Snooker Tour.
The exhibition event in Hong Kong starts a day after the World Open, a ranking tournament held in Yushan in mainland China, finishes.
Law also acknowledged his organisation had “no capacity” to repeat the hugely successful Masters, which drew 8,000 spectators and saw Fu complete a sensational 147 in the deciding frame of his semi-final against John Higgins, in the short term.
A seven-time world champion, O’Sullivan made history last month when he triumphed at the UK Championship for a record eighth time. Trump sits second on the rankings list, while Welshman Williams, who is in his 32nd professional season, currently ranks No 8 in the world.
Joining the top 10 trio is Lisowski, the 32-year-old, who is still searching for his first ranking title, and has the chance to play his good friend Trump in Wan Chai.
Si, meanwhile, shot to fame by reaching the semi-finals of the World Championship in April. Fu, a former world No 5, is now ranked 89th after receiving a second invitational card from the world governing body in May to remain on the tour.
The players will be in Hong Kong on Saturday for the official announcement of the challenge event, and then head to play in the Macau Snooker Masters on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
