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THE quarter-finals of the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship was DELAYED on Thursday afternoon.
The set-back has now put Ronnie O’Sullivan‘s match against Ding Junhui at risk – just hours after play was suspended when the lights went out last night.
Mark Allen’s semi-final clash against Mark Selby has been delayed for an unknown reason
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s match could be a risk of being postponed after the snooker was delayedThings were running behind in Saudi, where play was delayed by an hour without any explanation.
A statement from the WST read: “Today’s afternoon session will now begin at 6pm local time, 3pm GMT.
“Where Mark Allen takes on Mark Selby for a chance at the 167 prize & a place in the semi-final tomorrow.
“The second match will commence N/B 7pm local time, 4pm GMT.”
There is no word yet on why there has been a hold-up to proceedings.
But it could spell disaster for O’Sullivan’s clash with Ding, which is scheduled to start at 9pm local time, which is 11pm here in the UK.
The seven-time world champ’s quarter-final could be postponed entirely, but the tournament is set to finish tomorrow.
The semi-finals are due to take place on Friday afternoon, with final commencing in the evening.
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That means the best case scenario would see British fans asked to stay up past midnight to catch O’Sullivan in action.
Kyren Wilson vs Luca Brecel is set to start after Allen’s face off with Selby.
While world No.1 Judd Trump‘s tie against Mark Williams will come after at 7pm GMT.
Watch the Riyadh Season Snooker in SunSport’s live blog.
It comes hours after play was suspended after the arena plunged into darkness.
Zhang Anda was playing Ahmed Aseeri in Saudi Arabia when the lights continued to go out.
Snooker in Riyadh launched this year and a sensational $1MILLION (£780,000) bonus was announced for the first to make a 167.
And fans joked with Zhang on his way to doing so – organisers took matters into their own hands.
One said: “This lighting issue is ridiculous, feel sorry for Anda here, could really mess with his concentration as he is on the 147/167.”
After the success of the inaugural Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker event earlier this year, a second edition began this week.
Back in March, snooker became the latest sport to head over to Saudi Arabia as O’Sullivan beat then-world champion Brecel in the final.
The Brit’s two century breaks helped him claim his 79th professional title and the £250,000 prize money.
The defending champion could be made to wait an extra long time before his quarter-final.
He was once again alongside nine other stars that feature in the top 10 of the official rankings list.
List of all-time Snooker World Champions
BELOW is a list of snooker World Champions by year.
The record is for the modern era, widely considered as dating from the 1968-69 season, when the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) took control of the sport.
The first World Championships ran from 1927 – with a break from 1941-45 because of World War II and 1958-63 because of a dispute in the sport.
Joe Davis (15), Fred Davis and John Pulman (both 8) were the most successful players during that period.
Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan share the record for the most titles in the modern era, with seven each.
- 1969 – John Spencer
- 1970 – Ray Reardon
- 1971 – John Spencer
- 1972 – Alex Higgins
- 1973 – Ray Reardon (2)
- 1974 – Ray Reardon (3)
- 1975 – Ray Reardon (4)
- 1976 – Ray Reardon (5)
- 1977 – John Spencer (2)
- 1978 – Ray Reardon (6)
- 1979 – Terry Griffiths
- 1980 – Cliff Thorburn
- 1981 – Steve Davis
- 1982 – Alex Higgins (2)
- 1983 – Steve Davis (2)
- 1984 – Steve Davis (3)
- 1985 – Dennis Taylor
- 1986 – Joe Johnson
- 1987 – Steve Davis (4)
- 1988 – Steve Davis (5)
- 1989 – Steve Davis (6)
- 1990 – Stephen Hendry
- 1991 – John Parrott
- 1992 – Stephen Hendry (2)
- 1993 – Stephen Hendry (3)
- 1994 – Stephen Hendry (4)
- 1995 – Stephen Hendry (5)
- 1996 – Stephen Hendry (6)
- 1997 – Ken Doherty
- 1998 – John Higgins
- 1999 – Stephen Hendry (7)
- 2000 – Mark Williams
- 2001 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
- 2002 – Peter Ebdon
- 2003 – Mark Williams (2)
- 2004 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (2)
- 2005 – Shaun Murphy
- 2006 – Graeme Dott
- 2007 – John Higgins (2)
- 2008 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (3)
- 2009 – John Higgins (3)
- 2010 – Neil Robertson
- 2011 – John Higgins (4)
- 2012 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (4)
- 2013 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (5)
- 2014 – Mark Selby
- 2015 – Stuart Bingham
- 2016 – Mark Selby (2)
- 2017 – Mark Selby (3)
- 2018 – Mark Williams (3)
- 2019 – Judd Trump
- 2020 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (6)
- 2021 – Mark Selby (4)
- 2022 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (7)
- 2023 – Luca Brecel
- 2024 – Kyren Wilson
Most World Titles (modern era)
- 7 – Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan
- 6 – Ray Reardon, Steve Davis
- 4 – John Higgins, Mark Selby
- 3 – John Spencer, Mark Williams
- 2 – Alex Higgins
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