World Snooker Championship rescheduled to start July 31

World Snooker has announced that this year's World Championship has been rescheduled to begin on July 31 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

Snooker's biggest tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic but following discussions with key stakeholders, new dates for the tournament have been agreed.

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World Snooker Tour (WST) preference is to stage the event with a full crowd inside the iconic Crucible Theatre, which seats an audience of just under 1,000 spectators.

If that is not possible, based on government advice at the time, WST will consider the following options:

• Playing the event with a reduced crowd
• Playing the event behind closed doors
• Postponing the event to a later date again

The world is going through a very challenging period but live sport can be a massive inspiration for the public and can boost morale. This gives fans of top class sport something on their calendar to look ahead to and enjoy for 17 days.

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Chairman Barry Hearn said: "We are delighted to confirm new dates for this huge global sporting event which has an international television audience of 500 million people. The world is going through a very challenging period but live sport can be a massive inspiration for the public and can boost morale. This gives fans of top class sport something on their calendar to look ahead to and enjoy for 17 days.

"Our sincere hope is that we are able to play the tournament with a full crowd as usual. This event means so much to the fans who have a golden ticket for the Crucible experience, and to the people of Sheffield. The players will desperately want to compete in the atmosphere that only a packed Crucible can generate.

"However if that is not possible then we will give careful consideration to each scenario."

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The top 16 seeds earn an automatic place at the Crucible, and they will be joined by the 16 players who come through the qualifying rounds.

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