Done deal: Ronnie O’Sullivan has finally won a contract of of $50 million ……
The World Snooker Tour (WST) has announced that the Xi’an Grand Prix, a new ranking tournament, will make its debut in August of the following year. Following Ronnie O’Sullivan’s threat to ponder retirement if he is not permitted to compete in Asia more frequently, this is the fifth tournament that has been arranged in China.
Xi’an, the capital of central China’s Shaanxi Province, is expected to play host to some of the world’s most prominent snooker players, including O’Sullivan, who is presently on a break. The Grand Prix is a part of the 2024–2025 Chinese season schedule, along with the Shanghai Masters, Wuhan Open, International Championship, and World Open.
A massive £850,000 in total prize money will be up for grabs in this competition; that amount will rise by an extra £25,000 over the next two years. It exceeds the £825,000 prize pool of the International Championship, which Zhang Anda won in November. The winner of this year will take home £177,000.
The announcement could be seen as an attempt to make amends with O’Sullivan by the WST following his grievances about not being allowed to participate in China as much as he would have liked. O’Sullivan and other prominent UK players have contracts to compete in WST events; if they choose to skip them in order to participate in international exhibitions, they risk facing repercussions.
In addition to adding a fifth event to the WST schedule, this also makes it possible for more exhibition tournaments to be planned around the Grand Prix. O’Sullivan stands to gain from this, since he begged in November to compete more frequently in Asia.
