Inside purpose-built World Open snooker venue Ronnie O’Sullivan will star in that looks like Disneyland and cost £200m
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN competes today in one of the biggest permanent venues for snooker – a place that could become a future home for the World Championship.
The World Open, which was shelved for five years due to Covid, is being staged this week at the grandiose Yushan Sports Center in the Jiangxi province of China.
A five-hour drive south-west of Shanghai, the Center claims to be the world’s first purpose-built venue designed specifically for billiards and snooker events.
The building, which looks like something out of Disneyland Paris, has a construction area of 35,500 square metres and is 25.7 metres high, the equivalent of an eight-floor building.
The arena for the baize action has 3,000 fixed seats but there is capacity to accommodate an extra 1,000.
And should the Rocket go far this week – there is £170,000 on the table for the winner on Sunday – it is likely that every seat will be occupied.
The seven-time world champion is in action against Welshman Michael White in the first round on Tuesday and he has already banked more than £1million in prize money this year on the table.
The Sports Center is the centrepiece of an ambitious project to form the Yushan International Billiards Culture City project, which is estimated to cost more than £200milllion.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the sport’s governing body, boasts that the building has “high-quality maple floor from Canada to avoid vibrations and that snooker tables remain stable at all times”.
These are supposed to be “the most advanced sound-proofing materials to minimise distractions for the players”.
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It is claimed there are LED screens installed at each entrance so fans can follow the latest scores between frames.
And there are up to “45 bespoke function rooms” suitable for snooker and other indoor sports.
There are rooms for media, tournament staff, commentators and drug testers while other facilities include a heated swimming pool, gymnasium, children’s playground and fitness training centre.
There is also a billiards museum and Hall of Fame, which was opened last Sunday, on site.
The reason it is located in Yushan is that the slate which snooker tables are made from comes from quarries in the local area.
Jason Ferguson, president of WPBSA, said back in September 2018 that China wants to make Yushan County a “home” for snooker.
And given the sheer size and scope of the Center, it opens up the debate about whether it would be a suitable location for the Worlds one day.
Traditionalists would want to remain at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre, which opened its doors to cueing action in 1977 and celebrates its 50th anniversary of top-level snooker in 2027.
Yet the auditorium there doesn’t even have 1,000 seats and the contract is up for renewal in three years’ time.
While the BBC still broadcasts the event, it will surely remain in the UK but money talks within the corridors of power at Matchroom Sport.
Veteran sports promoter Barry Hearn, who founded the Essex-based organisation in 1982, does not want to move the event away from Sheffield.
He has close ties there given his management of six-time world champion Steve Davis and the success of the product this century.
Yet in recent years he made it known to the City Council that he wants to see more investment in the infrastructure and behind-the-scenes.
His son Eddie now runs the company and is not that involved with the day-to-day organisation of snooker. He is more hands on with boxing.
So who knows? Maybe one day officials in Yushan will make a compelling case to the World Snooker Tour that the sport’s flagship event in April and May could be held in their city. The building and facilities are all in place.
Last year that would have been an unthinkable prospect as 10 Chinese players were banned from the sport, two for life, for match-fixing offences and corruption charges.
But almost a year on, with the cheaters kicked out, a new breed of Chinese players are emerging.
And it only takes one of them, perhaps someone like Zhang Anda or Si Jiahui, to make that breakthrough at the highest level and the argument for taking the Long Road to China becomes stronger.