The 2025 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters commenced on Friday however technical points led to the postponement of a number of matches.
The opening spherical on the Inexperienced Halls in Jeddah noticed the likes of Ken Doherty and Reanne Evans earn victories.
Doherty defeated previous pal Jimmy White 4-1 whereas Evans continued her spectacular begin to the 2025/26 snooker season with a 4-2 overcome Kreishh Gurbaxani.
Amongst among the different names to make it via have been Sam Craigie, Liam Highfield, and Chang Bingyu – the latter edging Marco Fu in a deciding body.
It was a busy first day within the profitable rating occasion with a lot of the first-round matches going down.
However a number of ties on the schedule have been delayed till Saturday because of technical points that have been skilled on the venue.
“Through the night session of Friday August eighth on the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, now we have skilled technical points,” a World Snooker Tour assertion revealed.
“We’ve due to this fact postponed all matches on this session which have been but to begin till Saturday morning.”
“These matches will start at 10am on Saturday and play to a end in an untelevised session.
“We are actually engaged on resolving the technical points earlier than play resumes. We wish to thank the entire gamers concerned for his or her understanding.”
It’s one other considerably embarrassing episode in a Saudi Arabian occasion, particularly contemplating the riches which might be on supply and this explicit occasion’s billing as the game’s fourth main.
On the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship final December, Zhang Anda’s opening-day contest with Ahmed Aseeri was suspended amid a sudden blackout inside the sector.
Contemplating the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters has all 144 rivals that includes on the venue, WST shall be determined for the technical points to be resolved to keep away from any additional delays that might wreak havoc with the scheduling.
Matches postponed till Saturday
Farakh Ajaib v Saud Albaker
Louis Heathcote v Ayman Alamri
Mohamed Shehab v Abdullah Alotayyani
Liam Graham v Asif Mukhtar
Oliver Brown v Patrick Whelan
Yao Pengcheng v Alexander Ursenbacher
Fergal Quinn v Mahmoud El Hareedy
Elsewhere on Friday, there was a primary victory on the principle tour for 14 year-old Michal Szubarczyk.
{The teenager} from Poland beat Ryan Davies 4-2 to arrange an intriguing battle with 18 year-old Bulcsu Revesz in spherical two.
David Grace, Steven Hallworth, and Dylan Emery have been among the others to advance.
Just a few amateurs additionally certified for the following spherical, together with Egyptian wildcard Hesham Shawky who overcame Jiang Jun.
The entire Saudi Arabian wildcards concerned within the event who have been in motion on day one misplaced, nevertheless.
Technical points apart, the occasion launched in related vogue to final yr’s inaugural version in Riyadh.
Sadly, there have been scores of empty seats and a poor environment inside the sector – even for a crowd-pleasing tie involving Doherty and White.
It is going to be attention-grabbing to see to what degree crowd numbers enhance subsequent week when the sport’s main gamers enter the fray.
The highest 16, together with reigning Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters champion Judd Trump and world champion Zhao Xintong, will be part of the motion on Tuesday.
Along with the delayed first-round fixtures concluding on Saturday, day two will see the second spherical happen and the gamers seeded from 49 to 80 coming into the operating.
Click on right here to view the up to date draw (snooker.org)
Featured photograph credit score: WST
