‘Sort it out’ – Snooker fans outraged as ‘new major’ suspended with nobody in attendance

The Saudi Arabia Masters was suspended on Friday night for technical reasons.

The World Snooker Tour have announced that the event in Jeddah is a new major this season, but the start of it has left fans frustrated.

2

On Friday night, all of the scheduled matches were cancelled after a problem with the scoring system.

In a statement, the WST said: “During the evening session of Friday August 8th at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, we have experienced technical issues.

“We have therefore postponed all matches in this session which were yet to start until Saturday morning.

“These matches will commence at 10am on Saturday and play to a finish in an untelevised session.

“We are now working on resolving the technical issues before play resumes.

“We would like to thank all of the players involved for their understanding.”

The matches all resumed on Saturday morning, and the rest of the rounds are expected to continue as normal.

The Saudi Arabia Masters has taken on added significance this year after it was added to the Triple Crown events.

Should someone score two 147s across the UK, Masters and World Championship, they claim a £147,000 bonus.

The WST have added the Saudi Arabia Masters to this roster as well, increasing the chances of someone being able to claim the prize.

But the crowds in the early part of the tournament have drawn criticism from fans.

One supporter on X, formerly known as Twitter, said: “Ah yeah the good old 4th major, I know people will try and say oh but it’s early round, that’s rubbish I don’t care if it’s round 1 and lower ranked players, if this was a home nations event there would be more than half a dozen people watching.”

2

While another added: “Not a single person in the crowd watching the snooker in Saudi right now. And Barry Hearn has talked about taking the World Championships to the Middle East.”

Another said: “The Saudi Masters is definitely not a fourth major. For starters, it lacks a lot of history. Secondly, the audience figures are very low, especially in the early rounds. Thirdly, the early rounds are too short. The huge prize pot also doesn’t fit well, regarding rankings.”

A fourth put: “I know it’s in Saudi Arabia, but sort the live scoring out. Meant to be the ‘fourth major’ after all!”

Of course, the seemingly low attendances could be explained by the fact it is the early rounds.

Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and the rest of the top 16 all enter in round five on Tuesday, and the winner will claim £500,000.