O’Sullivan And Davis Excited By Expanded New World Snooker Calendar

Snooker stars Ronnie O'Sullivan and Steve Davis have expressed their excitement about the new tournaments on the expanded World Snooker calendar for the coming season.

In recent weeks, World Snooker, led by Chairman Barry Hearn, have added to the calendar a ranking event in Germany, a quick-fire Shoot-Out to be televised by Sky and a World Seniors Championship as well as the Player Tour Championship, a series of 12 short events culminating in a televised finale.

The calendar now consists of 24 snooker events, 20 of which will have world ranking points on offer for the players.

Three-times World Champion O'Sullivan said: "It's great to see new ideas for the game. Barry is already delivering on his promises and I'm positive that there will be more to come."

Snooker legend Davis believes that the Player Tour Championship (PTC) events will provide professionals with the busy schedule they have been calling for in recent years.

"It's a new direction for snooker, and if the game is to grow then the PTC will be an integral part of that," he said. "The players will have to get into a mindset of playing virtually every week, like darts players do now. I intend to play in as many events as possible once the season gets going."

The PTC will feature a new Order of Merit based on money earned at each event, with the top 24 after the 12 events to go through to the TV stages.

"With ranking points and a lot of prize money available, plus the chance to get into the big event at the end, there's every incentive," added 52-year-old Davis, who recently reached the quarter-finals of the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship on his record 30th appearance at the Crucible. "The players who are competing week-in, week-out will also become hardened to the match situation.

"Half of the PTCs are going to be in Europe, which is the biggest reason to play in them because that's where we are trying to capitalise in new markets. We're planting seeds and hoping some of them will grow, and that's the future of the game."

The first PTC event will be at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield and runs from June 25 to 27. Amateurs as well as professionals can enter, for details see worldsnooker.com