Hong Kong will host its first snooker ranking tournament in 35 years at the new Kai Tak Sports Park in March, featuring the world’s top 32 players competing for record prize money.

The World Snooker Grand Prix 2025, scheduled for March 4 to 9, will for the first time be held outside of the United Kingdom. The organizer announced on Tuesday that tickets – priced from HK$80 ($10.28) to HK$2,580 – will go on sale on Monday, and that it will host the iconic event in Hong Kong for the next five years.

Also unveiled at the news conference on Tuesday was the official opening of the Hong Kong Billiards Sports Academy, which will be located inside the Kai Tak Mall of Kai Tak Sports Park.

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The indoor Kai Tak Arena, with an audience capacity of 5,000, presents an exciting possibility for the tournament to set a new attendance record for a World Snooker Tour event.

“For the local fans, it will be an incredible opportunity to watch the best players on the planet and marvel at their skill,” said Simon Brownell, CEO of the World Snooker Tour, confident of forging an “electric atmosphere” and “a fabulous experience” for everyone inside the arena.

Record prize money will be a strong incentive for the snooker aces to thrill the audience, and the privilege of being “the first to lift the historic World Grand Prix trophy in Hong Kong,” Brownell added.

Prize money for the tournament will rise to 700,000 pounds ($856,814), marking an 84 percent jump from last year’s 380,000 pounds. The winner’s purse money will rise from 100,000 to 180,000 pounds.

Among the big aces on track to qualify for the World Grand Prix are Hong Kong’s Marco Fu Ka-chun, China’s Ding Junhui, England’s Mark Selby, Neil Robertson of Australia, and current world champion Kyren Wilson of England.

“The tournament is a premier event in professional snooker and every player is training for it seriously,” said Fu, adding that he is eager to face seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and one-time world champion Judd Trump, both of whom became Hong Kong residents last year.

The city’s resolve to develop a host city economy in the sports industry necessitates more introductions of such well-recognized sports brands as the snooker tournament, said Feng Huanhuan, the CEO of F-Sports Promotions Ltd.

In his latest annual Policy Address last October, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu outlined Kai Tak Sports Park’s expansion trajectory as the city’s future mega-event landmark expected to inject fresh impetus into the development of major sports events, innovative entertainment, dining, conventions, and exhibitions, and many more tourism activities.

Feng said she is convinced that Hong Kong’s deep-rooted enthusiasm for snooker makes the city a fertile breeding ground to nurture a new generation of snooker players, and cited this among the main motives for establishing the new academy in collaboration with the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.

The demand for first-class training venues and coaches gave rise to the initiative given the lack of structures in Hong Kong currently, said Feng. She added that the team heard that the planned Kai Tak Mall was under construction while conducting a site visit at Kai Tak Sports in preparation for the tournament last year.

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Brownell shared Feng’s hopes that snooker in Hong Kong will become more popular, noting the city’s status as the first Asian city to organize a professional ranking snooker tournament, the Hong Kong Open, in 1989, and as the host of the 2022 Hong Kong Masters, whose final attracted a record 9,000 spectators for the largest live audience at a snooker match.

Vincent Law Wing-chung, the chairman of the Billiard Sports Council of Hong Kong China, expressed his hope that the series of top-level snooker contests and the academy launch can convince the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government to relax restrictions placed on snooker sports, especially the ban on players under the age of 16 entering licensed billiard establishments from 8 pm to 10 am.

“The sports park, as well as the snooker sports per se, are extremely family-friendly and can provide golden opportunities to promote better health among the public,” said Law.

Contact the writer at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com