New snooker tournament to take place in Brazil
Brazil will host a snooker tournament for the first time as the Brazilian Masters was announced at a press conference today.
The competition will take place next year and will run from September 14th-17th at the Transamerica Expo Centre in São Paulo. The event will be an invitational event with 12 of the top players in the world taking part, along with four wildcards, and prize-money of $200,000.
Barry Hearn, World Snooker chairman, said: “This is a fantastic announcement for snooker as it will be the first ever professional tournament staged in Brazil. It will be an invitation event in year one but depending on its success we do have plans to make it a full world ranking tournament.
“Brazil is a country with a great love of sport and an incredible sporting heritage. Snooker is very popular there and we want to tap into that support. Breaking into South America is a huge step towards our ambition of making snooker a truly global sport. These are exciting times for us, with this the latest in a series of new tournaments.
“We look forward to working with the promoter in Brazil and building foundations there,” he concluded.
Taking part in his first season on the professional circuit, Brazil’s Igor Figueiredo is delighted about an event coming to his homeland. “It's very exciting news that there will be a tournament in Brazil. Snooker is already popular in my homeland but there is potential for it to be much bigger,” he said.
Figueiredo reached the televised stages of the World Open, and hopes there will be more Brazilian players coming into the game. “This event will bring snooker to the Brazilian fans and I know they will respond by welcoming the top players and creating a great atmosphere. Hopefully I can be successful on the main tour and provide an example for more Brazilian players to follow me,” he added.
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