Snooker’s leading players will be in Cheltenham next month for the Coral World Grand Prix, with crowd favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan to play on the opening night.

Staged at the Centaur arena, it’s the first ever professional snooker event to be held at Cheltenham Racecourse. The world ranking event runs from 4th to 10th February with a top prize of £100,000 up for grabs.

The leading 32 players on snooker’s one-year ranking list qualify for the event. The field is not yet confirmed as there is still one more counting event, the German Masters which finishes on 3rd February.

However many top stars are already guaranteed a place in the draw. The following first round matches, for the current top eight players on the one-year list, have been scheduled:

Monday, 4th February
7pm
Five-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan v opponent
2018 Masters champion Mark Allen v opponent

Tuesday, 5th February
1pm
Current world champion Mark Williams v opponent
Triple crown winner Neil Robertson v opponent

7pm
Northern Ireland Open champion Judd Trump v opponent
Cheltenham’s rising star Jack Lisowski v opponent

Wednesday, 6th February
1pm
World number one Mark Selby v opponent
World Open finalist David Gilbert v opponent


Other top stars currently in line to qualify include John Higgins, Shaun Murphy, Stuart Bingham, Kyren Wilson, Barry Hawkins and Ding Junhui. The full draw and format will be announced as soon as it is available.

A spokesman for World Snooker said: “It’s looking like an incredibly strong field for Cheltenham, we’re delighted to see a superb line-up building. This is going to be a great opportunity for the local fans to see the very best players on the planet and experience the unique thrill of live snooker.

“We have scheduled matches for the top eight so that fans know when their favourites will be in action. We expect tickets to sell extremely fast for those sessions so they must be booked quickly.

“There is a great sense of anticipation among the players to compete at the world famous Cheltenham Racecourse for the first time and we have no doubt that this will be a wonderful week of top class sporting action.”

Televised by ITV, the Coral World Grand Prix is the first in the Coral series, to be followed by the Coral Players Championship in Preston and new Coral Tour Championship in Llandudno.

Tickets for Cheltenham are now on sale and start at just £15. There are also hospitality packages available for all sessions, for up to 18 people in a private box.

For details call 0871 620 7052.