Snooker news - Neal Foulds suggests World Championships venue may move due to coronavirus

Fouls won the Dubai Masters, Scottish Masters and International Open in his time as a professional, and hopes that the sport's biggest competition can still go ahead.

Speaking to Sporting Life, he said: "We all hope that the World Championship can be rescheduled later in the year for many different reasons, but mainly because that would mean we were over the worst of this awful situation and that we would have reason to be hopeful and look forward again.

"It's such a difficult situation but I know Barry [Hearn] is working hard on this and it needs to happen at some point later in the year, when it is absolutely safe to do so.

"You can't not have a World Championship. It needs to be played at some point, even if it's at a different venue this year and even played in a slightly different format if needs be.

"Given the situation in China, it's hard to see us rushing over there for the start of the new season so even if it means waiting until the autumn to play this season's World Championship, it would be worth waiting for."

Foulds pointed to other sports to back up his belief that snooker should resume when possible.

He explained: "I'm not a Liverpool fan but there's nobody in the world who could argue that they don't deserve to win the Premier League. It's so sad for them and their supporters.

"They have been absolutely brilliant and it's just unfortunate for them that this has happened - some bookmakers have been paying out on them already and they deserve to be awarded the title should the season not be able to be finished.

"In terms of snooker, you've got Judd Trump having just broken a long-standing record for ranking title wins in a season and he deserves to defend his World Championship crown at some point.

"He's won six titles already following his victory at the Gibraltar Open but who knows if he might suffer from the 'Crucible curse' like so many have before?

"It would be a great shame if the event had to be scrapped this year."

Foulds suggested that having to switch from the Crucible should not cause a great problem, with other venues suitable if there were no chance of playing in Sheffield.

He said: "Anyone who hasn't been there [Crucible] needs to go at some point. It's an amazing venue, so intimate, but there are other great venues.

"I put a twitter poll out a few days ago asking fans where they would like to see the World Championship held this year if the Crucible wasn't an option.

"The Ally Pally is a fantastic venue and would be an obvious choice, the Barbican at York is a great venue and that would allow the tournament to stay in Yorkshire, but a left-field option would be the Tempodrom in Berlin.

"Like everything else, it would all come down to the situation with the coronavirus crisis improving but I think it would be wonderful to be able to take the World Championship to Germany and its fans for one year.

"The venue is fantastic, it really is. It has a huge capacity and when it's full, it's got to be seen to be believed.

"I've never known an atmosphere like it and that includes the Crucible. Clearly, there would be obstacles to overcome but I think it would be great for the game."