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Ssb - new format for welsh open
The Welsh Open will be played under a new format this season.
The tournament, staged in Newport, will use best of seven frame matches for all rounds up to and including the last 16.
This means the Newport Centre can go from three tables to two, both of which will be televised.
Last season's second table looked awful on the TV, as if there was barely room to cram it in.
The Welsh Open, as I wrote earlier this month, has become the poor relation of the ranking event circuit. These changes are by no means guaranteed to alter that but at least World Snooker are trying something new.
The World Open format was similarly bold but seemed to go down well and the shorter format did not produce a high number of shocks - on the contrary, it proved that the top players are the best under pressure.
The point about snooker formats is that they have all been devised for TV, but most of them for TV as it was a quarter of a century ago.
The Welsh final will still be best of 17, the semi-finals best of 11 and the quarters best of nine.
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The tournament, staged in Newport, will use best of seven frame matches for all rounds up to and including the last 16.
This means the Newport Centre can go from three tables to two, both of which will be televised.
Last season's second table looked awful on the TV, as if there was barely room to cram it in.
The Welsh Open, as I wrote earlier this month, has become the poor relation of the ranking event circuit. These changes are by no means guaranteed to alter that but at least World Snooker are trying something new.
The World Open format was similarly bold but seemed to go down well and the shorter format did not produce a high number of shocks - on the contrary, it proved that the top players are the best under pressure.
The point about snooker formats is that they have all been devised for TV, but most of them for TV as it was a quarter of a century ago.
The Welsh final will still be best of 17, the semi-finals best of 11 and the quarters best of nine.
More...