#1- The big billiards are coming: The inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters confirmed for this summer will offer a prize pot of over GBP 2 mn, becoming the sport’s “fourth major,” the World Snooker Tour (WST) said yesterday in a statement. This makes the event the second richest on the tour schedule this year, it added.

What we know: The snooker masters in Riyadh will be open to 128 tour players, along with six local wild cards from the Saudi Arabian Billiard and Snooker Federation, it said. The event will run from 31 August to 7 September.

Not one, but two: The agreement between the local federation and the Sports Ministry with the WST and World Nineball Tour also sees the World Pool Championship hosted by Jeddah in June. The event, which runs from 3-8 June, will have a prize pool of USD 1 mn.

#2- Saudi Arabian Football Federation has sanctioned and fined 6 players of the national football team for reasons including non-compliance with the manager’s decisions, refusing to join or / and requesting delays of camps and friendly games, and sending offensive messages to the coaching staff ahead of the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar, state news agency SPA reports.

Fines + suspensions: Al Nassr’s goalkeeper Nawaf Al Aqidi was fined SAR 300k with a 5-months suspension. Al Nassr’s Mohammed Maran, and Al Ettifaq’s Khalid Al Ghannam and Ali Hazazi were fined SAR 200k with a one month suspension. Al Nassr’s Sultan Al Ghannem was fined SAR 200k, While Al Hilal’s Salman Al Faraj was fined SAR 100k.

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