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Snooker: New tournament structure for season

It aims to create more player opportunities and qualification routes

A new tournament structure has been announced for the Isle of Man's snooker competitions this season.

Six one-day ranking events will take place with the first on Sunday, 31 October.

These will then feed into selection for the Home International & European and World Amateur competitions.

Meanwhile, a new Grand Prix tournament has also been confirmed.

Here, the top eight ranked players will take part, applying a best three from four events list.

Elsewhere, a new format has been created for the Champion of Champions contest from December 13-19.

Sixteen players will be split into groups of four with two group semi-finals played and a group final between the two winners.

Isle of Man Billiards and Snooker Association (IOMBSA) says the changes aim to allow more players opportunities.

It's also designed to provide the association and its players with qualification routes for elite events on-Island and international tournaments off-Island.

Michael Crook and Darryl Hill from IOMBSA spoke with Rob Pritchard about the new system:

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