Snooker will join a growing list of sports to have held events in Saudi Arabia after a lucrative £2.5million tournament in Riyadh was added to the 2020-21 season calendar.
On the same weekend Anthony Joshua reclaimed his heavyweight boxing titles by defeating Andy Ruiz Jr in the latest major sporting occasion to be held in the nation, World Snooker confirmed it had agreed a 10-year deal with Saudi Arabia's General Sports Authority.
World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn, the father of Joshua's promoter Eddie, hailed the news, which will see a 128-player tournament take place in Riyadh from October 4-10 next year.
"This is a giant leap forward for our sport. We have enjoyed tremendous global expansion over the past decade, particularly in Asia and Europe, and we are thrilled to stage a new and momentous tournament in the Middle East," he said.
"We have a packed calendar throughout the year, which creates a competitive marketplace for new events. Snooker has grown to such an extent that we are now creating exceptional tournaments at this level."
However, the deal is also likely to prompt staunch criticism and accusations of 'sportswashing', with Amnesty International having last week labelled Saudi Arabia's human rights record as "dire", "heinous" and "appalling".
Eddie Hearn defended the decision to hold Joshua's rematch with Ruiz in the country, stating: "Our job is to provide opportunities to the fighters.
"I was driving up and down the road thinking of all the criticism I’ve been getting. And I passed Gucci, Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Versace and Ralph Lauren. And although it is easy for us to also say Formula E, the tennis Super Cup, and the PGA Tour is here too, I also believe that no one has the right to tell a fighter how and where they can earn their money.
"The sportswashing thing is something over my head."
Ronnie O'Sullivan, snooker's G.O.A.T., wins sixth World Championship title
Ronnie O'Sullivan landed his sixth World Championship title when he wiped the floor with first-time finalist Kyren Wilson in Sheffield.
Snooker's long-time talisman moved one away from Stephen Hendry's record of seven titles at the Crucible Theatre as he scored an 18-8 triumph.
Even Wilson admitted O'Sullivan was able to "walk all over" him, describing his conqueror as "the greatest of all-time".
That is a view that even Hendry has recently expressed, and O'Sullivan said: "It's great to be able to win over the 17 days here."
He had led 10-7 after the first day of the final but pulled away on Sunday afternoon, establishing a 17-8 lead, making his victory a formality in the evening session.
Spectators were allowed inside the venue in Sheffield for the final, with social distancing measures meaning around 300 were able to witness O'Sullivan land his first world title since 2013.
The 44-year-old scooped the top prize of £500,000 as he won by the widest margin in a world final since his own 18-8 drubbing of Ali Carter 12 years ago, joining Steve Davis and Ray Reardon on six world titles.
O'Sullivan finished with a break of 96, miscuing on the black as he went for a century, and said on the BBC: "I never really think about titles because when I was a kid I never thought I'd be here.
"I was just playing for the fun of the game. It's a dream but it's becoming a bit of a reality too."
Robbed by the snooker gods! Wilson reaches first Crucible final after heartbreaker for McGill
Kyren Wilson was in tears after reaching his first World Snooker Championship final following a staggering end to his semi-final against Anthony McGill.
A gripping contest went all the way to a decider, and it proved to be the highest-scoring frame in the history of the competition at the Crucible.
Wilson eventually took a cat-and-mouse duel 103-83 to win the match 17-16, and he became highly emotional and apologetic after fluking the green that left McGill needing a snooker late in the frame.
Scottish cueman McGill, who came into the tournament as a qualifier, said: "I feel like it's been stolen from me - not by Kyren but by the snooker gods."
Wilson had led McGill 14-11 but was pegged back and trailed 16-15, with the tension in the Sheffield theatre growing as the match neared its climax, despite it being played behind closed doors.
Englishman Wilson told the BBC: "I've dreamt of this moment, but I didn't want to get there like this. It's just mad what can happen on a snooker table. I felt it was one of the best semi-finals ever at the Crucible. I'm just a bit annoyed that it's ended that way, but it's just this game for you."
Six-time world champion Steve Davis said: "In the end, somebody had to win it. He fell over the line."
John Parrott, the 1991 world champion, said the final frame was like "nothing like I've ever seen".
Ruthless Ronnie O'Sullivan: Young players are not even amateurs... they are so bad!
Five-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan believes he is still able to compete at the highest level because snooker's next generation is "so bad".
O'Sullivan, 44, made the quarter-finals of the World Snooker Championship with a 13-10 win over Ding Junhui on Sunday.
He will face another veteran, 45-year-old Mark Williams, in the last eight and explained their longevity was an indictment of the future of the sport.
O'Sullivan was asked if he could have imagined when breaking through in the 1990s that he would still be contending for world titles at this stage.
He told BBC Sport: "Probably, if you asked me then, no. But when you look at the standard of play, I would say yes.
"People like me and John [Higgins] and Mark, if you look at the younger players coming through, they are not that good really.
"Most of them would probably do well as half-decent amateurs, do you know what I'm saying? Not even amateurs... they are so bad!
"A lot of them that you see now, you look at them and think, 'Oh, I've probably got to lose an arm and a leg to fall out of the top 50.' Do you know what I mean?
"That is probably why we are still hovering around, because of just how poor it is down that end."
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