The Ultimate Snooker Showdown in Saudi Arabia

Top snooker stars from around the globe gathered in Riyadh for the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters. Uniquely this tournament hosted all 144 players at the final venue without a qualifying round. This was a first for the World Snooker Tour (WST) and gave all competitors the opportunity to perform on one of the sport’s biggest stages in an impressive custom built venue at the Green Halls.

Among the 144 players in attendance some were the highest ranked snooker stars but also lower ranked professionals. Playing in these arenas gives extra incentive and potentially a huge boost to the lower ranked snooker players. Rookie professional and world number 99 Robbie McGuigan said, before the historic event kicked off: “This is what the game can do for you. If you do well, the rewards are there. The lower ranked professionals will want to qualify for these big events more often.” – “It is absolutely superb what WST have done to get this tournament staged. To have a full ranking event is fantastic for all of the players.”

Judd Trump continued his phenomenal start to the season by producing one of the all-time great pressure clearances to defeat Mark Williams 10-9 and became the inaugural winner of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters. The duo put on one of the most dramatic finales to a tournament, with the Green Halls in Riyadh witnessing an epic deciding frame. He punched the air in elation after prevailing in the final frame – “It is probably the happiest I’ve ever been to win a tournament. It was an incredible feeling and one that I won’t forget for a while.” -Judd Trump, 2019 World Champion.

Inspired By Architecture 

Alongside an incredible £500,000 top prize, their brand new trophy was equally spectacular. They commissioned EFX with a 14 kilo trophy to showcase the unique architecture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The outside part of the structure is inspired by the Kingdom Centre, which is a 99 story skyscraper in the al-Olaya district of Riyadh. The ball at the top of the trophy is designed to emulate a design at the heart of the 67-metre-high Al Faisaliah Tower, also in the al-Olaya district.

Using a mixture of 24ct gold plated, nickel plated & black anodised aluminium & a disc of black acrylic, the award had layers of shards and cylinders to transform it into something quite spectacular for the Saudi Arabia tournament. As this is a perpetual trophy to be used each year, EFX also created a miniature version that winner Judd Trump could take home.

The client at WST had this to say about the striking finished trophy and on working with EFX – “EFX produced a uniquely striking trophy truly fitting for this new major event on the snooker calendar. From what started as a sketch on a bit of paper, EFX fully understood the brief and brought the design to life. The choice of materials for each element of the trophy worked fittingly.Even under the time pressures we had EFX produced exactly what we were looking for.”

Photos credits: WST / Taka Wu / Tai Chengzhe