World Snooker Championships rescheduled to July 31

LONDON -- The World Snooker Championship has been rescheduled to run from July 31 to August 16, announced the organizers on Wednesday.

The annual snooker tournament was originally scheduled to be held from April 18 to May 4 this year at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield but was postponed due to the outbreak of coronavirus.

With the new competition date released on Wednesday, the World Snooker Tour expects that the event can be staged with a full crowd as the Crucible Theatre seats an audience of just under 1,000 spectators.

If that is not possible based on government directives at the time, they will consider playing the event with a reduced crowd or behind closed doors. Postponing it to a later date is also an option.

"It is crucial for our 128 tour players to know that we are doing everything we can to get our circuit going again as soon as it is considered safe to do so by the government," said the WST chairman Barry Hearn. "The players are self-employed and they need opportunities to earn, while we keep the health and safety of everyone involved in an event of this scale as a priority."

There are more than 20 Chinese players in the 128-man tour squad led by world No 10 Ding Junhui.

The 33-year-old Ding has won 14 major ranking titles in his career including three UK Championships.