Ronnie O'Sullivan v Judd Trump exhibition in Hong Kong - 'You wouldn't see that at a normal tournament' says Marco Fu
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ByEurosport
Updated 27/03/2024 at 08:47 GMT
Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Williams, Jack Lisowski, Kyren Wilson and Marco Fu have claimed some of the biggest trophies in the sport, but their presence in Hong Kong for a lucrative exhibition event this week has failed to attract local snooker fans with tickets priced between £140 and £342 for the matches. O'Sullivan, Trump and Williams are in action at the Tour Championship next week.
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Ronnie O'Sullivan played before a world-record snooker crowd during his last trip to Hong Kong, but it was a bit different upon his return to the Asian city on Tuesday.
The seven-time world champion faced new World Open winner Judd Trump in a lucrative exhibition match, but the seemingly prohibitive cost of tickets for the event appeared to have priced out the locals from watching the action this time.
According to a report in the South China Morning Post, only 700 fans were in attendance at the 3,500-capacity Queen Elizabeth Stadium with Trump making a 147 in a 5-2 win against O'Sullivan in their meeting at the Hong Kong Snooker All-Star Challenge.
Perhaps it was no surprise there were such sparse numbers with tickets priced at £140 (HK$1,380) £240 (HK$2,380) and £342 (HK$3,380) to watch several of the sport's leading men with Mark Williams, Jack Lisowski, Kyren Wilson and Marco Fu also competing in a two-day event worth over £655,000 in appearance money.
It was certainly a far cry from O'Sullivan's 6-4 win over Fu in the final of the Hong Kong Masters in October 2022 when over 8,500 fans were in attendance at the Hong Kong Coliseum.
The view from some of the seating arrangements at ground level were also the subject of some debate.
Fu was quoted as saying: "You wouldn’t see that at a normal tournament. But this is probably an exhibition, so maybe a little different, I guess.”
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Ronnie O'Sullivan during a Hong Kong exhibition event.
Image credit: Eurosport
O'Sullivan and Trump are due to return to the UK ahead of next week's Tour Championship in Manchester (1-7 April) when they compete for the world No. 1 ranking ahead of the season-ending 48th World Championship in Sheffield (April 20-May 6).
Trump is also in action this weekend at Manchester Central when the second World Mixed Doubles is staged by the city.
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