The Betway UK snooker championships is descending upon York and will commence on the 27th of November and will run through until the 9th of December. The tournament will be held at the York Barbican for the 8th consecutive year as the popular venue consistently attracts large crowds.
The UK Championship was first staged in 1977 and has been conquered by many of snooker’s greatest players including last year’s winner Ronnie O’Sullivan. The tournament is considered to be the second biggest ranking event, behind the World Championship. These two tournaments along with the masters make up the triple crown in snooker.
A great deal of preparation goes into making sure the Barbican is set up to the highest standard for the snooker championships. The interior reconstruction includes sufficient seating for the audience, snooker tables and even a Tv studio.
This video gives you a behind the scenes look at how the Barbican is transformed into a state of the art snooker arena. The build is from the 2016 Championships.
Over the years, spectators have been spoilt with some world class snooker and very memorable moments including the 2015 final in which Neil Robertson claimed victory with a 147-maximum break against Liang Wenbo who graciously applauded Robertson’s brilliance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7g0CEh5sWY
Focusing on this year’s tournament, it goes without saying that the favourite to win the Championship and take the £170,00 prize money home is Ronnie O’Sullivan with the bookmakers having him at 7/2. However, last year’s runner up John Higgins is fourth favourite to win, currently standing at 12/1.
Tickets are on sale and prices are starting at £7 which gives you the chance to see 128 players who will all compete in the opening round over the first three days, including some of the world’s best. However, over recent years the Barbican has been a sell out with tickets hard to come by during the later stages of the tournament.
Here are some more moments of class that you can expect to see at this year’s Snooker Championships.