Ronnie O’Sullivan is interested in the concept of a Golden Ball at the next Riyadh season’s World Masters of Snooker – and wants to know how much it is worth
Ronnie
O’Sullivan is among their 10 players competing in Saudi Arabia (Photo: VCG via Getty Images)
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Ronnie O’Sullivan eyes ‘grand prize’ at Saudi Arabia’s first major, which could see the world’s first 167 break.
The season-opening World Masters of Snooker in Riyadh takes place in March, with seven-time world champion O’Sullivan fielding a field of 10 players. The tournament will introduce the 23rd golden ball, known as the Riyadh Ball of the Season, which is worth 20 points but can only be won after making the maximum break of 147 points.
The idea infuriates the purists of the sport, but Rocket is interested in taking a break as snooker is the latest sport lured to the Middle Eastern country.
“What is the 167 prize? Did they report it? I’m sure it will be a big prize,” said O’Sullivan, who heads to the Middle East as a hot favorite after back-to-back Masters and World Grand Prix titles in recent weeks.
The 48-year-old. -old , who has regularly spoken of his love of playing in China, will not hesitate to play in Saudi Arabia despite the country’s appalling human rights record and accusations of laundering the sport
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Ronnie O’Sullivan joins Saudi tournament and Ball d’Or concept
Ronnie O’Sullivan joins Saudi tournament and Ball d’Or concept (Photo: Bradley Collyer/ PA Wire)
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“Listen, the Saudis can do what they want,” he said. “They are a powerful outfit. Every other sport seems to work in Saudi Arabia so it’s great to be out there.
Shaun Murphy is another player who has encouraged snooker fans to give the tournament a chance. The 2005 world champion said: “Never like, no review something unless you’ve tried it. It’s just something different, and it’s not the first time the sport has tried new ideas.
“I imagine they [the World Snooker Tour] had to make some concessions to get the event across the border and the new Saudi promoters want their event to stand out and be different. At the end of the day, you’d rather have the event than not.”.
