Right … while the 2023 ranking CLS is taking a break over the week-end, a lot of things are moving in China.

Ronnie and Judd are excited about their trip to Macau, as reported by Phil Haigh

Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan hail ‘exciting’ Macau Masters event

Phil Haigh Thursday 29 Jun 2023 12:05 pm

The players invited to the new Macau Snooker Masters are excited for the opportunity to play in the event this December, with Judd Trump saying: ‘Christmas is going to be very special this year.’

There will be £150,000 on offer to the winner, with Trump battling it out with Ronnie O’Sullivan, Ding Junhui, Jack Lisowski, Mark Williams, Kyren Wilson, Marco Fu and Si Jiahui for the big top prize.

The eight-man tournament is to be held at the Wynn Palace in Macau from 25-29 December, an unusual time for a snooker event, but one that slots in when they players won’t be involved in World Snooker Tour competitions.

World Snooker Tour confirmed that the Macau Masters is unsanctioned meaning the players won’t be able to play if it is streamed or broadcast, so don’t expect to watch the action over Christmas dinner.

Nevertheless, it will be a glamorous event at the Wynn Palace hotel, with Trump joking he is looking forward to winning some money back from the place after spending plenty at Wynn in Las Vegas.

‘I’m very excited to be able to play at this event, it’s exciting for all of us here,’ Trump said at the launch event on Wednesday. 

‘Whenever I go on a holiday to Vegas, I always spend my money on the Wynn Hotel, so it will be nice to earn some money back here. Christmas is going to be very special this year.’

O’Sullivan added: ‘It’s a fantastic place. So excited to come here and play at such a big event in one of the best hotels in the world. I’m sure it’s going to be a fantastic event with so much support from the people.’

The Rocket enjoyed a trip to Asia for a huge event last year when he won the Hong Kong Masters, beating Marco Fu in the final in front of a world record snooker crowd of 9,000.

‘The whole experience was perfect,’ he told SportsRoad. ‘I also want to say hello to the Hong Kong fans, and I hope to see you all in Macau at Christmas and play exciting games again.’

Chinese snooker has obviously been hit hard by the recent match-fixing scandal which has seen 10 players banned, with two for life.

However, O’Sullivan feels recent World Championship semi-finalist Si could win the world title within four years and thinks China is still a serious force at the top level.

‘In another three or four years’ time, he might win the tournament, it’s just experience,’ O’Sullivan said of the 20-year-old.

‘I’ve seen a lot of Chinese players practise a lot and they want to become the best. Some are so strong now, so the future is now and it will only get stronger.’

A couple more videos have emerged, notably one showing how much Ronnie appreciated the gym at the venue!

Whilst Judd loved the piano…

Some of the players have now moved to Shanghai for this exhibition event. It was initially supposed to happened on June, 30, but has now been moved to July 1 and 2, now played over two days.

I haven’t found pictures so far, but I found this video, showing the reception Ronnie got as he was introduced in the arena.

But that’s not all… Judd Trump and Jack Lisowski were involved in an exhibition mixing Chinese Pool and Snooker (I hope I got that right).

Here are the relevant posts on weibo … (as automatically translated)

This is the poster…

And some pictures from the action…

Ding also announced a “Fashion Show” that actually is not exactly what we expect when we read “Fashion Show”. Here is the explanation found on weibo …

Accompanied by some promotional images …

On a personal note … as you can see after years of deprivation because of covid, things are moving in China and Asia in general and there is a huge appetite for snooker there. WST doesn’t sanction the Macau Masters and maybe there are contractual reasons behind this decision. But it’s a shame. It will be a fantastic promotion for snooker, a sport I feel in under threat, having to compete with pool – actively promoted by Matchroom – and Chines Pool (Heyball) in Asia. Snooker I feel could do with all the exposure it can get.

And yes, I’m back on weibo as China has eventually discovered that both Belgium and Greece are countries where people have phones… 😎 … but I still can’t post. I need to register my phone for verification purposes. I tried to use the same (Belgium) phone, I used to successfully resuscitate my account … no joy. I’m told to use a “local” phone. So I tried to use our Greek mobile, as I’m living in Greece … same result. Any clue anyone?