Interest is said to be high for the new Bahrain Championship with tickets apparently selling very quickly.
"People from as far as Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been constantly contacting us trying to book tickets in the fear that they will be sold out soon - that's how much interest there is for this championship," said Shaikh Abdulla bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa, the president of the Bahrain Snooker Association in an interview with the Gulf Daily News.
"I am very pleased with the response from the public so far, and am looking forward to more tickets being sold over the next few days as the championship nears."
Shaikh Abdulla did, however, admit that the withdrawal of world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan was a blow.
"We are all disappointed and shocked of his withdrawal but the event will still have many of the world's best players and it will still be very competitive with a lot of great snooker to be played," he said.
Crowds make a huge difference to the perception of any tournament.
If it's a packed house with a good atmosphere it makes it attractive to those watching on television.
There's nothing worse than tuning in to find there's hardly a soul in the audience.
In a sensible move, World Snooker have switched Marco Fu's match with Dominic Dale from Sunday morning to evening to fill the gap left by O'Sullivan's no show.
5 comments:
Good stuff, Anthony Hamilton will be happy then. Well, if he had qualified he would be.
"Shaikh Abdulla bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa"
... made up name
No it's not a made up name - without name dropping - and it's a long name! I know the Sheikh and have met him on several occasions at international events.
If you care to check on Global Snooker, you'll even find photos of Sheikh Abdullah at events, with his Bahrain players and attending official functions.
He's been a major factor in the development of snooker in Bahrain.
Due to him Bahrain hosted the 2005 IBSF World Under 21s and now they've gone another step forward to host the Bahrain event.
Probably best if you don't know what you're talking about - to stick to the "anonymous" tag so you don't make a total fool of yourself!
"without name dropping"
Like you drop Shaikh Abdulla bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa in to most conversations you have?
Certainly tops mentions of Molly Sugden in 'Little Britain'.
Judging by Murphy v Dunn, the interest isn't as high as we were led to believe
This article was written in good faith, but let's see how the week pans out...
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