This season the prize money for professional billiards was worth a total of £155,000 over the five tournaments played. The WPBSA would not reveal the source of their billiards income, but figures published by others have suggested that the prize money will be recovered in part by entry fees and subscriptions (£18,000), sponsorship from Strachan (£20,000) and from Geet Sethi´s promotion company (£15,000) It was Sethi´s company which staged the World Championship in Ahmedabad last September. The remaining amount, plus an unspecified sum to cover administration costs, would have to be met from WPBSA funds. This would seem to represent a sizeable increase over the subsidy given last season, which was reported to be £70,000.
It has been decided that next season all professional ranking tournaments will by determined by fixed-point matches rather than the current time limit. Details of how this will be applied to the various tournaments have yet to be announced.
At an EGM held on 29th March, WPBSA members rejected a proposal by the board to extend voting rights to the top 128 players.
The WPBSA have asked us to point out that the balls used for professional tournaments are Aramith, and not Super Crystalate. The same make of ball is used for EABA tournaments.
Several weeks after the conclusion of the last tournament of the season, the WPBSA have yet to release the final ranking list. This is due to a “problem” with the point allocation. Although no further explanation has been given, there has been speculation that this is connected with the new system being used this year. Previously, one point was awarded for each round won, with double points applied to the World Championship. This year, the allocation is as follows : Tournament winner 21 points; Runner-up 15 points; Semi-finalist 10 points; Quarterfinalist 6 points; 3 points for losers in the last 16, and 1 point for losers of the first round. If a seeded player loses their first match, they receive the points allocated to the previous round. Again, the World Championship attracts double points, and seedings are based on three years results. It can be seen from this that the results of the current season will heavily outweigh those of the previous two years, where a tournament winner received just five points.