Welsh Open Trophy Honour For Reardon

The trophy for this season’s Welsh Open snooker tournament has been named after six-time World Champion Ray Reardon.

This follows the announcements earlier this week that the English Open and Northern Ireland Open trophies have been named after Steve Davis and Alex Higgins respectively.

The Welsh Open is a firm fixture on the World Snooker Tour, ever present as a ranking event since 1992. This season it is joined by the new English, Northern Ireland and Scottish Open to create the Home Nations series.

The 2017 running of the event will see 128 players battle it out at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff from 13th February. Ronnie O’Sullivan won the title last season.

Reardon, now age 83, dominated snooker for much of the 1970s, winning his sixth world title at the Crucible in 1978. He said: “It’s quite something to have the Welsh Open trophy named after me. I’m ecstatic about it. It’s a real honour.”

World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn added: “Ray was a pioneer for snooker and played a key role in its development as a major television sport. He was a tremendous player and remains a fine ambassador.”

The Welsh Open will be televised by BBC Wales and Eurosport. Tickets are still available but are selling fast – for details CLICK HERE

Any player winning all four Home Nations events will earn a massive £1 million bonus.

Home Nations events
English Open – Event City, Manchester, October 10-16
Northern Ireland Open – Titanic Exhibition Centre Belfast, November 14-20
Scottish Open – Emirates Arena, December 12-18
Welsh Open – Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, February 13-19