Kai Tak Arena curfew that made Hong Kong a snooker joke to be scrapped, official says
World Grand Prix returning to city in February and organisers promise fans won’t be kicked out early this time around
The snooker fiasco that made Hong Kong and Kai Tak Arena the focus of global headlines for the wrong reasons in March will not happen again, organisers have told the Post, revealing a local curfew had been scrapped.
Speaking exclusively to the Post, event organiser F-Sports said the competition format and the number of tables would be changed and the curfew imposed by the park would not be in place at all.
“We are going to use four tables simultaneously for the first round during the first two days of the tournament, so we won’t be in the same situation any more,” Lakita Feng Huanhuan, CEO of F-Sports, said. “World Grand Prix was the only ranking tournament with a unique one-match-after-another competition format, but we are ditching it next year.
“We have redesigned the competition format, so four rounds of 32 matches will be played at 1pm and 7pm, respectively, on the first two days.”
The four-table set-up will be retained for the second round, before that number is halved for the quarter-finals. The remaining stages will be played on one table, with two semi-finals scheduled on a Saturday, followed by a Sunday final.