The 2020 World Snooker Championship was originally supposed to get under way today, Saturday 18th of April.
Eurosport, which would have aired dozens of hours of live coverage from the Crucible Theatre, will instead be producing a new snooker vodcast over the coming weeks.
Snooker, like most sports, has been badly affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The 2019/20 campaign is at a standstill, and although there is some ambition to stage the World Championship during the summer there isn’t much confidence surrounding when the season might resume.
Judd Trump, winner of six ranking titles this season and the runaway world number one, could have been challenging to break the hoodoo that is the “Curse of the Crucible”.
No first-time world champion has returned to Sheffield to successfully defend the crown, but there is the sad possibility that there will be no 2020 winner at all.
Eurosport, then, is attempting to brighten the mood a touch with a series of new episodes in their Snooker Vodcast programme at 2pm every day.
Andy Goldstein will be joined by various players and pundits, including Ronnie O’Sullivan and Jimmy White, to host discussions on the game.
Fans will be encouraged to interact too, being offered the opportunity to vote on a classic match from the Eurosport archive that will be aired later in the day at 7pm.
Other memorable encounters will be scheduled throughout the day as well, with footage of the 2019 World Championship final and the 2020 German Masters title decider already on the cards for Saturday.
Eurosport’s coverage will also be available on its Player, via a subscription.
The Snooker Vodcast follows the BBC’s decision to show numerous Crucible Classics over the next 17-day period.
Memorable ties between Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White, John Higgins and Judd Trump, and Ken Doherty and Paul Hunter will be among those revisited on the BBC.
Fans will also have the opportunity to follow the first ever Virtual World Snooker Championship on YouTube.
The World Snooker Tour will stage its first official e-sports competition, with 16 gamers representing the top 16 players in the world rankings on PS4 game Snooker 19.
Some betting outlets are taking odds on the tournament, and several bonus codes for 2020 are available at https://bonuscodebets.co.uk/bet365-bonus-code/ if you are interested in taking a punt.
While it’s nothing like the real thing, the little distractions are welcome and it’ll all hopefully help to keep people entertained before life eventually returns to some form of normality.
