Snooker news - Barry Hearn hopes to stage World Championship behind closed doors in July

ByEurosport

Updated 05/04/2020 at 22:34 GMT

Barry Hearn has revealed he is hoping to stage the rescheduled World Championship behind closed doors with a July 25 start date.

Barry Hearn

Image credit: PA Sport

The World Championship was due to start on April 18 and finish on May 4, but has been postponed because of the global coronavirus pandemic.

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World Snooker Tour chairman Hearn is waiting on the green light from host broadcasters to pencil in the event on the same dates the Olympic Games - delayed for a year because of the global health crisis - were due to be held in Tokyo.

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That would see the 44th staging of the Crucible Theatre tournament in Sheffield start on Saturday July 25 and end on Monday August 10.

“We have secured the Crucible for the same dates as the Olympics were going to be," Hearn is quoted by The Sun.

“And we have applied to the BBC to make that move so it will be played out at the end of July and start of August.

“We are waiting to hear back from the BBC if that is acceptable to them.

Fortunately the Crucible have made those dates available. So we are in the position to stage a truly huge world snooker championship. Provided we fit alongside government rules.

“When sport is back, we will all be very busy because we’ll play catch-up on a huge scale.

“When it does come back, it will be wall-to-wall – and that cannot happen soon enough for a lot of our members.

“Clearly by then we will have all been starved of world-class sport."

The Tour Championship in Llandudno has already been rescheduled in the calendar, moved from March 17-22 to July 21-26 meaning the World Championship could start on the same weekend the Tour Championship is ending, but much will depend on how the health crisis develops over the next few months.

The tournament is the biggest in snooker with a £500,000 first prize. World number one Judd Trump is the defending champion after an 18-9 win over John Higgins in last year's final.

Hearn believes holding the event behind closed doors could be the solution despite WImbledon, Euro 2020 and the Olympic Games being wiped from the summer sporting calendar due to the outbreak.

“I don’t think we will come out on one day and the next day they will say go back to normal," he said.

“I think it will be a phased approach. The Crucible is less than 1,000 people.