Hong Kong Masters eyes world record crowd – but quarantine is barrier to China staging snooker, Mark Selby warns

Hong Kong Coliseum could attract snooker’s biggest ever attendance as city holds its first major international sports event since start of pandemic

But mainland’s border rules mean events held there would ‘lose 10 days before you start’, Selby says – ‘we don’t have that room in the schedule’

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The Hong Kong Coliseum is set to draw more than 8,000 spectators per session of the Masters tournament. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Published: 8:15am, 6 Oct 2022Updated: 5:32pm, 6 Oct 2022

As snooker stars align for this week’s Hong Kong Masters, the world’s leading players are relishing an occasion set to draw a record-breaking audience, and eager to return to mainland China, too – provided it opens up.

Eight of the best will take to the baize from Thursday at the 10,000-seat Hong Kong Coliseum, which can be filled to 85 per cent capacity under Covid-19 regulations and was 90 per cent sold out as of Wednesday.

That could pull in snooker’s biggest ever crowd for Hong Kong’s first major international sports event since the pandemic began, and suggest a gateway back into mainland China, which pre-Covid accounted for a growing number of tournaments.

There were no complaints on Wednesday about the degree of freedom allowed by Hong Kong’s “0+3” policy for arrivals, which limits where players can venture to in their first three days – even if they needed a lengthy tutorial in using the city’s LeaveHomeSafe app from Hong Kong’s top men’s player Marco Fu Ka-chun.

The Masters line-up of (left to right) Ng On-yee, Marco Fu, Zhao Xintong, John Higgins, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan. Photo: AFP

Neil Robertson had been wowed by a peek at the huge tiers of seats at the match venue, while seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan was looking forward to an evening jog with a local friend.