Snooker | Saudi Arabia ruthlessly rejected the traditions of its favorite sport – there is now a “golden ball” on the snooker table

Saudi Arabia has grabbed numerous major sports events recently. The most recent addition to the group is snooker, whose world tour is in cooperation with the authority responsible for the entertainment industry in Saudi Arabia.

At the beginning of March in the country's capital, Riyadh, an event called Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker. It's about an invitational tournament, which takes ten top players. The top eight in the ranking qualify for the competition, and two players also get to the table with a wild card. The tournament's prize pool is a whopping one million dollars (920,000 euros).

In Riyadh, snooker rules are used, but the organizers have developed one rule change. There is an extra ball on the table modestly called the “golden ball”. The special ball is bagged only once and is worth 20 points. This means that the maximum break in the Riyadh tournament is 167 instead of the normal 147.

Sky Sports by Participants in the Riyadh competition include, among others Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump and Luca Brecel.