Matthew Selt slams snooker calendar and Stephen Hendry calls for purpose-built venue for qualifying matches

Published 21/12/2022 at 12:52 GMT

Matthew Selt and Stephen Hendry opened up on the current structure of snooker, including its calendar and the finance side of the game. Selt hit out at World Snooker Tour for not doing more to replace the lost China events which have been cancelled for the last three seasons due to the coronavirus pandemic. Stream the 2023 Australian Open live on discovery+ and eurosport.co.uk.

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Matthew Selt has slammed the current snooker calendar as not enough has been done to replace the events in China.

The tour hasn’t been in China since 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic and Selt feels the financial structure and number of events in the game is “disgusting”.

He was speaking to seven-time world champion

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“Listen, if you put 20 tournaments on in a year and you win only £20,000, it’s your own fault,” Selt said.

“But telling people that you’ve got the chance to win money, I find it quite embarrassing. I find it disrespectful.

“It’s a shame, because I love the sport. I love the game and I’ll never stop loving the game, that’s why I still play it.

“But when you look at the scheduling of the tour, you’ve got to prepare for two weeks for a qualifier and you’re playing in round two six or seven weeks later, I think it’s disgusting. The game is amazing, but the tour is not.”

Multiple events in China, which offered a significant amount of prize money, have been lost, with most of the schedule now taking place in the UK.

Selt says he is “not scared about speaking” how he feels about the game.

“Obviously Covid has affected the world as a whole, which it clearly has,” the 2022 Turkish Masters finalist added. “Lots of people have lost their jobs, which is very unfortunate.

“Although the calendar looks busy and it looks like we’re doing a lot, if you’re not in the top eight or top 16, you’re in a bit of trouble really.

“The thing that frustrates me the most is that we were so reliant on China as a country and an area to have half the tour.

“Somebody has not done a great job at having a back-up plan. You’re looking at nearly four years since we’ve been to China now.”

Selt is ranked world no. 28 and is good friends with Hendry, who appeared to agree with the Englishman’s comments.

For some events, such as the Home Nations tournaments, players outside of the top 16 usually have to play qualifying matches weeks in advance of the main draw.

These qualifiers are not held at the same venue as the actual tournament too, which frustrated Hendry who suggested there should be a go-to venue for all qualifying matches.

“It [the current system] is not appealing to me,” said Hendry. “I don’t understand why World Snooker hasn’t built a purpose-built venue to hold all the qualifiers because they are all over the country in random leisure centres

“It doesn’t motivate you. The players I see or play against, it’s quite a sad atmosphere. The public will see the Masters, 200 people, and Crucible, 17 days packed every time, but they don’t see the other side of it.”

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