Global snooker chiefs unconcerned by new China league

Global snooker chiefs are not concerned that a new professional league in China will lead to a player talent drain, instead seeing it as a pathway into the elite world tour rather than a direct rival.

The newly formed China Billiards Club Professional League, which gets under way next week, features eight teams across Chinese cities playing 432 matches, in a home-and-away format, before an inaugural champion is crowned in late December.

Largely focused on giving the country’s rising stars somewhere to play, league rules also allow teams to approach some of the game’s best players, and it would be a surprise if world champions Zhao Xintong and Wu Yize were not involved at some point.

But unlike the schism LIV Golf created in that sport, luring away some of the game’s best from the established PGA and DP World tours, World Snooker Tour (WST) bosses consider those responsible for the league at the Chinese Billiards & Snooker Association (CBSA) to be “our friends and colleagues”.

“We wish all the best with it,” Jason Ferguson, chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, said. “We do see that it’s something that will fit beneath the World Snooker Tour and will obviously help the market and keep the players busy and develop talent for the future for the WST.

“It’s a new project, and it’s a very exciting project for players in China. One thing we have in China is that there are lots of large and successful commercial [snooker] clubs. CBSA is seeing this as an opportunity to support the club market, keep the clubs open and create some intra-country competition. I think it’ll be supportive rather than pushing against the world’s tour.”