On April 26, 2024, the World Taiwan Federation made an important decision to announce the increase in the prize money of next year's Masters, which caused discussion among fans from the outside world.
The Masters is one of the three major competitions of snooker, second only to the World Championships in gold content, and also in front of the British Championships, because it is an invitational tournament, resulting in individual results not being included in the ranking, but only the top 16 players in the world are allowed to participate, its importance is naturally self-evident, O'Sullivan's results are the best, he has won eight Masters championships, and he defeated Carter this year to reach the top, which is still fresh in people's memories.
Previously, the total prize money of the Masters was 725,000 pounds, the champion was 250,000 pounds, and the runner-up was 100,000 pounds, and now the World Taiwan Federation announced that from next season, the total prize money will be increased to 1.015 million pounds, the champion will be 350,000 pounds, and the runner-up will be 140,000 pounds.
In the past, because of the problem of income, O'Sullivan has questioned it many times, and even because the 147 bonus is too low, he deliberately played 146 in response, indeed snooker is a niche sport, even if it is a player like O'Sullivan, the bonus is still incomparable with many projects, like players who are not ranked in the top 64, and even have to post it upside down every year, to be honest, this status factor is not conducive to the development of snooker.
Now the snooker prize money continues to increase, there are more and more events, and new rules are adopted to distinguish the top 16 players from unseeded players, referring to this year's World Championships, which makes low-ranked players come up without encountering too strong opponents, and also have the opportunity to win to get more income and maintain the cost of playing professionally.
Chinese star Ding Junhui was out of the first round for four consecutive years, focusing on participating in the top 16, and was questioned by some fans after the game, in the face of these bad voices, Ding Junhui apologized, and asked everyone to wait for one more year, which made people feel teary-eyed, you must know that Ding Junhui has made a great contribution to the development of snooker, and it is under his influence that there will be the current Si Jiahui, but now he is under attack.
Because he is not an athlete in the system, Ding Junhui can have his current achievements, all by his own efforts, he doesn't owe anyone anything, but he lives up to everyone's expectations, he can't accept it in his heart, there are always regrets in competitive sports, there is no way to lose the game, I am afraid of losing the courage to start over, we have reason to believe that Ding Junhui will one day be able to lift the trophy in Crucible, see you next season!