It’s a case of pot luck for which Arabian Gulf state is likely to emerge as the regional home of the game.
“Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and the Middle East are areas we are interested in bringing an event to,” says Jason Ferguson, the chairman of snooker’s governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA).
“We’ve got a player from Qatar on the tour now [Ahmed Saif] and events from Europe to China and Australia; it’s a truly global game, but the Middle East is our missing link. We need to bring in the TV and sponsorship to cover prize money but we are talking to people out there.”
To cover staging an event and prize money, Mr Ferguson estimates between £500,000 (Dh3 million) and £600,000 is needed. But to get snooker established in the region, he also wants to tackle the grassroots. “It’s about getting the event going on the ground. In the Middle East, I’m keen to bring snooker to people rather than let people come to the clubs,” he says.
The world snooker tour is back in the game’s heartland with the Masters at London’s Alexandra Palace starting today, but a game that traces its origins back to 1875 has been transformed in recent years.
When the Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor beat Steve Davis in the 39th and final frame of the 1985 World Championship, the match was watched by 18.5 million viewers in the United Kingdom but was very much stuck in its traditional roots – British working men’s clubs.
The only overseas players tended to come from the Commonwealth. Of the eight players beaten by Davis and Taylor en route to the 1985 final, only two – the South African Silvino Francisco and the Australian Eddie Charlton – came from outside Britain.
Then, the WPBSA had around 30 members but few were active. “Only a handful were providing players for the tour,” says Mr Ferguson, a former professional himself, who was previously elected WPSA chairman but quit after retiring in 2004.
Although the previous WPBSA regime had initiated expansion in the Far East after the success of Marco Fu, who won the 2007 Grand Prix and was runner-up in the 2011 Masters, even his success had colonial links. Fu is from the former British colony of Hong Kong.
As the WPBSA struggled to expand snooker, the game was hit by a European Union ban on sponsorship of sporting events by tobacco firms in 2005. The 2006 World Championship was the first in 30 years not to be sponsored by Embassy cigarettes.
Mr Ferguson returned as WPBSA chairman as thelong-time snooker impresario Barry Hearn took control of World Snooker, the game’s commercial body, which operates the professional circuit. Mr Ferguson describes the sport then as “dying”. Mr Hearn agrees, saying: “Back then, it was moribund, a part-time sport. Everyone was going through the motions revolving around a BBC contract.”
Snooker’s “world tour” then comprised a mere half a dozen events. Total prize money on offer was just £3.5m and one of the world’s oldest games was not even recognised as a sport by Sport England, the pan-sporting body in the game’s homeland. Last year, Mr Ferguson, also a director of World Snooker, managed to get Sport England to recognise snooker and the tour has blossomed internationally. He adds: “I was brought back by Barry Hearn to head the governing body and the commercial side.”
Mr Ferguson reels off the statistics with the confidence of someone who believes in his vision. “We’ve got 90 national governing bodies, including one in Dubai.”
When Ronnie O’Sullivan won the 2013 World Championship, his winnings were £250,000 and a revitalised world tour now has more than 30 events from Germany to Australia and China and offers total winnings of £8.3m.
Mr Hearn’s Matchroom Sports has sold television rights to 78 countries around the world. The WPBSA still works with the BBC but also with IMG and Eurosport, which Mr Ferguson pin-points as being key to the expansion in Eastern Europe.
This has taken the European tour to Bulgaria, where crowds for matches in the event staged in June 2013, which was won by John Higgins, reportedly saw crowds of more than 1,000 attend some sessions. Mr Ferguson adds: “There is strong interest in Latvia and we’re in talks in Russia. It’s not long before we have a major ranking event in Eastern Europe.”
The WPSBA has tried events in South America and introduced the game to India, which Mr Hearn believes could be the start of a major breakthrough. He adds: “The Indian Open is potentially the biggest breakthrough. The Indian sub-continent is a massive potential market.”
Snooker was first invented at Jubbulpore in India in 1875, when British officers from the Devonshire regiment began experimenting with billiards. Mr Hearn and Mr Ferguson believe that snooker in India could soon emulate China, where the previous regime had introduced a sport that has really begun to take off.
“We started out with one event that was invitation only many years ago but we’re working with the CBSA [China Billiards & Snooker Association] and now we’ve got 14 players on the main tour,” says Mr Ferguson.
The image of the game in India, China and other parts of the Far East, such as Thailand, is very different to the one that snooker retains in Britain. When the tobacco sponsorship was pulled, their replacements were typically online bookmakers, such as Betfred, William Hill and Betfair, which sponsors the World Championships.
This drew criticism in Britain, particularly on social media platforms, that the game’s governing authorities were purposely aiming downmarket in its homeland and not looking for more up-market sponsorship.
“The UK is a tough market. The banks have laid off thousands of people and there’s a big concern generally about sponsorship there,” says Mr Ferguson. “I’m sure it will pick up and different types of sponsorship will come through.
“One of the things we do is have different levels of sponsorship. In China, snooker is seen as a very upmarket sport, a gentleman’s sport with great etiquette. What other sport can you find where players own up to their own fouls? That’s a great asset overseas.”
Snooker sponsors in the Far East include the Bank of China and Ferguson points to how the game has become part of the school curriculum in some Asian countries. The WPBSA has also developed a white board game called Functional Snooker for schools and tables are increasingly being installed in schools with the approval of the education authorities. One school in China has 28 snooker tables.
“That’s been one of our big successes,” says Mr Ferguson. “Young kids learning maths that teachers could not engage before. You couldn’t expect parents to leave kids in snooker clubs, but they are far more comfortable leaving them playing snooker in a school.”
For Mr Ferguson and the WPBSA, that is where the future of the game in the Middle East lies: the grass roots, and establishing an enthusiasm for the game with the younger generation that follows through into adult life.
business@thenational.ae
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
'Cheb%20Khaled'
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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PROFILE BOX:
Company/date started: 2015
Founder/CEO: Rami Salman, Rishav Jalan, Ayush Chordia
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Technology, Sales, Voice, Artificial Intelligence
Size: (employees/revenue) 10/ 100,000 downloads
Stage: 1 ($800,000)
Investors: Eight first-round investors including, Beco Capital, 500 Startups, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Hala Fadel, Odin Financial Services, Dubai Angel Investors, Womena, Arzan VC
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Other promotions
- Deliveroo will team up with Pineapple Express to offer customers near JLT a special treat: free banana caramel dessert with all orders on January 26
- Jones the Grocer will have their limited edition Australia Day menu available until the end of the month (January 31)
- Australian Vet in Abu Dhabi (with locations in Khalifa City A and Reem Island) will have a 15 per cent off all store items (excluding medications)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Race card
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 Group 1 (PA) US$100,000 (Dirt) 2,000m
7.05pm: Meydan Classic Listed (TB) $175,000 (Turf) 1,600m
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 2,000m
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (D) 1,600m
8.50pm: Nad Al Sheba Trophy Group 2 (TB) $300,000 (T) 2,810m
9.25pm: Curlin Stakes Listed (TB) $175,000 (D) 2,000m
10pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 2,000m
10.35pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 1,400m
The National selections
6.30pm: Shahm, 7.05pm: Well Of Wisdom, 7.40pm: Lucius Tiberius, 8.15pm: Captain Von Trapp, 8.50pm: Secret Advisor, 9.25pm: George Villiers, 10pm: American Graffiti, 10.35pm: On The Warpath
ALRAWABI%20SCHOOL%20FOR%20GIRLS
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Most F1 world titles
7 — Michael Schumacher (1994, ’95, 2000, ’01 ’02, ’03, ’04)
7 — Lewis Hamilton (2008, ’14,’15, ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20)
5 — Juan Manuel Fangio (1951, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57)
4 — Alain Prost (1985, ’86, ’89, ’93)
4 — Sebastian Vettel (2010, ’11, ’12, ’13)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Company%20profile
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How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
ANATOMY%20OF%20A%20FALL
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Mountain%20Boy
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Results
4pm: Al Bastakiya – Listed (TB) $150,000 (Dirt) 1,900m; Winner: Panadol, Mickael Barzalona (jockey), Salem bin Ghadayer (trainer)
4.35pm: Dubai City Of Gold – Group 2 (TB) $228,000 (Turf) 2,410m; Winner: Walton Street, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
5.10pm: Mahab Al Shimaal – Group 3 (TB) $228,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Canvassed, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
5.45pm: Burj Nahaar – Group 3 (TB) $228,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Midnight Sands, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
6.20pm: Jebel Hatta – Group 1 (TB) $260,000 (T) 1,800m; Winner: Lord Glitters, Daniel Tudhope, David O’Meara
6.55pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-1 – Group 1 (TB) $390,000 (D) 2,000m; Winner: Salute The Soldier, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass
7.30pm: Nad Al Sheba – Group 3 (TB) $228,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: Final Song, Frankie Dettori, Saeed bin Suroor
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
