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Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty offered invitational tour cards by World Snooker Tour for next two seasons
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Published 26/04/2022 at 18:17 GMT+1
Separately, the WST also confirmed a series of new seeding rules for the UK Championship that takes place in November. The format of the tournament now mirrors that of the World Championship, which means the top 16 players will go straight through to the final stages of the competition in York. Stream the World Championship and other top snooker live and on-demand on discovery+
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The World Snooker Tour (WST) have offered Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty invitational tour cards for the next two seasons.
Hendry is a seven-time World Championship winner and holds the record for being the youngest person to do so, after claiming the title aged 21 in 1990.
Doherty won the World Championship in 1997, where he defeated Hendry and gained himself the honour of being the only player to be world U21, world amateur and world professional champion at the same time.
“They are both great ambassadors for our sport and they have both done a huge amount to grow snooker around the world over many years,” said the WST in a statement issued on Tuesday.
“Both Ken and Stephen continue to generate interest from fans, television and media. We wish them all the best for the next two seasons. We will review this invitation at the end of the two-year period.”
Separately, the WST also confirmed a series of new seeding rules for the UK Championship that takes place in November.
The format of the tournament now mirrors that of the World Championship, which means the top 16 players will go straight through to the final stages of the competition in York.
All of the remaining 16 places will be contested among the unseeded players in a qualifying tournament for the main event.
“The strength of the top 16 has never been greater and we are seeing this in our biggest events such as the World Championship and the Masters. For television viewers, this format guarantees the biggest names at the final stages," said WST chairman Steve Dawson.
A total of 128 players will take part in the qualifying rounds, which consists of 112 tour players and 16 invited amateurs.
A mixture of formats are going to be introduced on the tour, including flat draws of 128 players, and others that see the top players seeded through.
The prize money is also going to increase from £1,009,000 to £1,205,000, and first prize will see the winner claim £250,000 – up from £200,000.
The event will be televised from the York Barbican between November 12 and 20, which immediately follows on from the qualifying event.
However, one thing to remain the same is that the best-of-11 frames format until the final.
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Stream the World Championship and other top snooker live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.
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