The European city of Budapest will stage a tournament on snooker’s new Challenge Tour later this season.
The Challenge Tour event in Hungary, which will be the eighth of the season, will run on November 24 and 25 at the Snooker Terminal academy in Budapest.
The new Challenge Tour is running for the first time this season as a secondary circuit below the World Snooker Tour.
There are ten events, with the top two players on the final Order of Merit earning a two-year card to the professional circuit.
Each tournament has 64 players from the Q School Order of Merit, plus a maximum of eight wild cards.
As part of the agreement to stage an event in Budapest, the Hungarian national champion will receive a wild card to all Challenge Tour events this season, from event three onward.
World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn said: “We are delighted to bring a tournament to Hungary for the first time as our sport continues to move into new territories.”
“To compete in this event in Budapest will be a fantastic opportunity for the Challenge Tour players. We look forward to working with our friends at the Hungarian Billiards Federation on a successful event.
“Having already staged the first two Challenge Tour events we can see it will be an extremely competitive circuit with a high standard of play and a huge reward at the end for the two players who earn a World Snooker Tour card.”
Peter Varga, Chairman of the Snooker Department of the Hungarian Billiards Federation, said: “The Hungarian Billiards Federation is exceptionally honoured by the opportunity to host an event of this importance.”
“We are looking forward to staging the Challenge Tour event in our capital Budapest and to cooperating with the organisers of the Tour.
“We wish the best to all of the players on the Tour and we’ll do everything to guarantee an excellent event in Hungary.”
The first two Challenge Tour events of the campaign were won by Brandon Sargeant and David Grace in Burton and Preston respectively.
