Our Planet Climate and Geopolitics
The first official snooker tournament held in Saudi Arabia concludes today. The Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker, taking place in a small arena in the Boulevard City district, has rewritten the core rules of snooker, has rewritten the core rules of snooker. A golden ball – worth 20 bonus points – sits on a velvet cushion and is placed on the table when a player is in a position to make a maximum break, allowing for a potential record break totalling 167 points (and a £395,000 cash prize). The three-day event has featured empty arenas, bored spectators, British players dressed in thawbs, and lots and lots of money. The World Snooker Tour has been happy to embrace Saudi Arabia’s newfound passion for snooker, having faced a match fixing scandal and accusations of staleness (Ronnie O’Sullivan is still dominating the sport at an unprecedentedly old 48). A second, larger Saudi tournament is scheduled for the summer – without the golden ball for now. There have even been murmurs of a potential international relocation to Saudi of the sport’s biggest event – the World Championship – which has been held in Sheffield since 1977. If the money’s there, at least one sports body is happy to literally change the rulebook.