Only 77 players in official ranking - why?

[vgreen]

In the official rankings on www.worldsnooker.com and on the bbc website there are only 77 players on the official rankings. While on the provisional ranking list there are 96 players. Why is there not 96 players on the former?

And, does this mean that there are 19 wild card players in all ranking tournaments this year, as there are 96 contestants in these tournaments?

[The Statman]

Not sure. It may be that the remaining 19, as you say, were promoted to the main tour at the start of this season (this figure may seem high, but it depends on how many players, who would have been eligible to remain on the main tour from the previous season, resigned their membership).

I think that is the most likely explanation. Maybe it is a bit of that and also a bit of the fact that some players were ranked equal last on 0 points.

[vgreen]

Or maybe it is the switch from more players on the main tour. Didn't there use to be 128 on main tour, but economics didn't allow that any more. I'm not sure when the transition happened, though.

[gavhay]

Yeah Statman is correct, the tour cut down from 128 to 96 2 or 3 years ago now.