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The multimillion dollar World Snooker (formerly known as the World Snooker
Association) Main Tour season runs from August through to the following May
with the prestigious Embassy World Championship concluding the season.
The 2000-01 Main Tour Season consists of eight world ranking events which
are open to all the competitors on the Main Tour, with the exception of
the prestigious Embassy World Championship where all WSA professionals
are eligible to compete for well over $2million in prize money on offer
– there are also pre-qualifying rounds for the Embassy World
Championship staged where non-World Snooker players are eligible to compete in.
There are also a number of non-world ranking events on the tour where the
top players are invited to compete in. The most prestigious of these
being the Benson & Hedges Masters played at the famous Wembley complex
in London, England. The top-16 ranked players are invited to compete plus
a wild card entrant and the winner of the Benson & Hedges Championship
which is competed by players ranked 17 and below.
The 2000-01 Main Tour Season comprises of 160 players. Originally 128
players were planned for the 2000-01 campaign, though due to
discussions concerning the allocation of ranking points, the World Snooker
decided to increase this by 32 players.
The 2000-01 Main Tour is be made up of all 128 players who competed in the
1999-2000 season's ranking events, excluding the 1985 Embassy World Champion,
Northern Ireland's Dennis Taylor, missing due to his retirement, also the
top 22 players from the secondary World Snooker UK Tour (now known as the
World Snooker Challenge Tour from this season), the next three from the
official world ranking list and eight players from around the world who won
their respective tour events.
The around the world contingent is made up of four from Asia, one from
Oceania/Africa, two from Europe, and one from the Americas – Bob
Chaperon of Canada, who after a break returns to top level professional
snooker.
However, this season, only 48 players will go to the final venues of
events in Britain, with 20 players going to the ranking events staged
outside of Britain.
Therefore qualifying competitions will need to held to whittle down
the fields, the first of which was held in Newport, Wales, on August 18
until September 12, and the second to be held also in Newport from
February 6 until March 5, 2001.
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