Snooker news - Barry Hearn: World Championship plans could be scrapped due to lack of players
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ByEurosport
Updated 16/04/2020 at 13:01 GMT
Barry Hearn has revealed his plans to stage the World Championship in July could be scrapped due to the travel chaos caused by the global coronavirus pandemic.
Barry Hearn, Chairman of World Snooker congratulates Mark Williams of Wales after he won the tournament in 2018
Image credit: Getty Images
The World Championship was due to start on April 18 and finish on May 4, but has been postponed because of the health crisis engulfing the world.
World Snooker Tour chairman Hearn is keen to stage the event on the same dates the Olympic Games - delayed for a year because of the global health crisis - were due to be held in Tokyo.
That would see the 44th staging of the Crucible Theatre tournament in Sheffield start on Saturday July 25 and end on Monday August 10, but Hearn admits he is in the dark if those plans will ever see the light of day.
The British government advised citizens "against all non-essential travel worldwide" on March 17 initially for a period of 30 days with similar measures in place across the globe in a bid to slow the spread of the disease.
"We’ve got Plans A, B, C and D and there are three or four ways of looking at things and how they’re going to develop," said Hearn, who is recovering from a minor heart attack.
The biggest problem for all sports, especially global sports like darts and snooker, is the travel restrictions don’t make it a level playing field for everybody. If someone can’t get out of their country then how the hell can they compete in a ranking system that is played, the majority of it, in Europe?
"So we have to wait and see how other countries develop as well. On the snooker side, we’ve allocated the dates previously reserved for the Olympics.
"Really it’s a fingers-crossed job. We’re gambling that by the end of July, early August we can stage the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible in Sheffield or we can stage it without a crowd.
One of those is more than likely to be an option, but circumstances will tell us and the government will advise us what is safe and healthy to do. We’re not going to take a risk with the health and safety of our officials, staff and players.
"But at some stage the world has got to get back to normality. We’ve just got to make sure we’re in a position to be ready.
"We’re geared up now to create events within a three or four day platform because the infrastructure is in place, it’s just a question when that green light shines. We can’t really give a definitive answer more than that in these circumstances."
The Tour Championship in Llandudno has already been rescheduled in the calendar, moved from March 17-22 to July 21-26, meaning the World Championship could start on the same weekend the Tour Championship is ending, but much will depend on how the health crisis develops over the next few months.
The tournament is the biggest in snooker with a £500,000 first prize. World number one Judd Trump is the defending champion after an 18-9 win over John Higgins in last year's final.
Hearn believes holding the event behind closed doors could be the solution despite Wimbledon, Euro 2020 and the Olympics being wiped from the summer sporting calendar due to the outbreak.
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