Ladbrokes Coral realigns World Snooker partnership

Betting company Coral has been unveiled as the new title sponsor of snooker’s World Grand Prix, Players Championship and Tour Championship, which will make up the newly-named Coral Series.

The tournaments were previously sponsored by Ladbrokes but the Ladbrokes Coral Group has opted to move the three title sponsorships to the Coral brand. Under the new agreement with World Snooker, the sport’s top players will battle it out for the newly-created Coral Cup.

The World Grand Prix is due to take place at Cheltenham Racecourse from February 4-10 and will feature the top 32 players from the one-year ranking list.

The top 16 on the one-year list will then compete in the Players Championship at Preston’s Guild Hall from March 4-10, before the top eight contest the Tour Championship at Venue Cymru in Llandudno from March 19-24.

The top prizes at the three Coral Series events will be £100,000 (€113,000/$128,000), £125,000 and £150,000, respectively. Any player who wins all three events will have his total rounded up from £375,000 to £500,000, with the player who earns the most overall prize money across the tournaments to receive the inaugural Coral Cup.