Hong Kong should always have an event - Robertson

Neil Robertson ended a two-year wait for a ranking title by winning the English Open in September

Neil Robertson has welcomed the recent announcement that this season's World Grand Prix will be held in Hong Kong, the first ranking event to be held there for 35 years.

The news continues the ongoing globalisation of the sport, with increased prize money and host venues with large capacities adding to the impression that the sport is heading in a positive direction.

The inaugural version of the lucrative Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters was held in Riyadh in late August and early September, with Judd Trump collecting a winner's prize of £500,000, the same as is on offer for the World Championship.

The tournament in Hong Kong will be staged in the 4,000-capacity Grand Hall at the Kai Tak Arena from 4-9 March 2025.

Ronnie O'Sullivan will be the defending champion at the competition, which will host the top 32 players qualified by virtue of the sport's one-year ranking list with a first prize of £180,000.

Total prize money for the event will rise from £380,000 to £700,000.

A potential sell-out crowd at the venue would represent a record attendance for a ranking event.

An invitation event featuring eight players was staged in Hong Kong two years ago, with O'Sullivan winning the final in front of 9,000 enthusiastic fans.

"I played Ronnie in the semi-final there, had three centuries in a row and the crowd was going crazy," reflected Robertson after beating Graeme Dott 4-3 in the first round of the Northern Ireland Open at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.

"I was wondering why we weren't going back as for me the tournament was a huge success.

"Everyone's been working hard behind the scenes to make it happen, they've increased the prize money and the ranking points available, which is really a step in the right direction. Hong Kong should always have an event."

'Nice to get early reward'

Robertson has shown improved form this season - most notably a win in the English Open in September, his first in a ranking event for over two years - having previously won at least one tournament every calendar year since 2006.

His hard-earned win over Dott on Monday keeps him on track to become the first player ever to win all four Home Nations Series tournaments.

Last season the Australian dropped out of the world's top 16 and failed to qualify for the World Championship at the Crucible Theatre, but he says he is now in a much better place after that disappointing campaign.

"When you're working hard and have got that day-to-day structure, it's nice to get that reward early on in the season," said the 42-year-old.

"I think I've played really well so far and my main goal this season was to qualify for the Masters, which was a really big task given that I started the season ranked 27.

"I definitely want to be there and I want to push through the momentum. It's great to be back in the Champion of Champions too - everything is positive and moving forward. I'm looking forward to every event I play in, whereas last year I was chasing results."

Robertson says he "enjoyed" his first-round NI Open victory over his Scottish opponent in what was a repeat of the 2010 World Championship final, as "the standard of the snooker was really good".

"I thought we played to a very good level and when you get a healthy crowd in watching it, it kind of adds to the enjoyment. I thought it was a good game, there wasn't much in it."

O'Sullivan has 'earned the right' to miss events

Ronnie O'Sullivan launched his Snooker Academy in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia last week

The NI Open takes place this week without seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, who withdrew from the event on Sunday.

The 48-year-old has not played competitively since losing in the first round of the English Open on 17 September.

"He [O'Sullivan] is at a stage of his career where he has won absolutely everything and pretty much smashed every record there is," said 2010 world champion Robertson.

"The only thing would be to win another Worlds and then he's completely on his own, so he has earned the right to do that [sit out some tournaments]. At his stage of his career it is going to be all about the Triple Crown events, and maybe the Saudi ones.

"He's incredibly busy off the table now. It's up to him, I hope he's OK, but I'm sure we'll see him back in the Champion of Champions or the UK Championship."