'Stupid email' revealed as Barry Hawkins and Mark Williams slam lack of clarity over Saudi Arabia Masters cancellation

Hawkins has slammed the ”stupid email” which offered ”no explanation” to players as to why the Saudi Arabia Masters has been cancelled.

The World Snooker Tour’s most lucrative ranking tournament outside the UK was first held in 2024, but it has been scrapped after just two years - despite a 10-year deal initially being announced.

Judd Trump and Neil Robertson were victorious in what has turned out to be the only two editions of the event, with the pair taking a £500,000 prize each.

With an overall prize pot of £2.3m, the tournament was on par with the World Snooker Championship for the money up for grabs for players to win.

Announcing the decision, the WST said: ”Following constructive discussions between The Saudi Billiard and Snooker Federation and Matchroom following the conclusion of the 2025 editions, it has been mutually agreed not to proceed with future editions of the World Pool Championship and the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.

”Across 2024 and 2025, the Kingdom successfully staged two major events in Riyadh and Jeddah, welcoming world champions and providing 18 Saudi players with the opportunity to compete on the same stage.

”Thousands of spectators attended from nearly 40 countries, many experiencing elite live snooker and pool for the first time.

”During this period, Saudi juniors also progressed through international events, including World Nineball Tour competitions, Q Tour Middle East, and Asian junior championships — important early steps onto the global stage.

”We extend our sincere thanks to all players, officials, and participants for their contribution to the success of these events.”

However, Hawkins is not impressed with the lack of clarity around the decision.

Speaking after his win over Williams at the World Championship, he said: ”What a disappointment.

”Without sounding rude, something's gone wrong for us to lose that tournament. What's happened to the 10-year contract? It's just been blown out of the water.

”We don't get no explanation, nothing, which is very, very annoying. We just get some stupid email saying it's been stopped.

”No explanation, nothing. Very disappointing - it's a massive tournament to lose. It'd be interesting to see the reason behind it.”

For Williams, the Saudi event proved to be a near-miss on his list of tournament wins after losing 10-9 in the final against Trump in 2024’s inaugural edition.

He is concerned about the bigger impact the event’s cancellation could have, as former champions could drop down the rankings due to points earned at the tournament being tied to prize money.

”I suppose that’s one of the downsides to having a money ranking system, because it’s so top-heavy,” Williams said.

”Now these guys like Neil Robertson and Judd Trump, they haven’t got a chance to defend that £500,000, that’s just going to be wiped off, and there’s no tournament to replace that.

”Other people down the rankings are going to suffer as well. We all thought it was on for 10 years, but for whatever reason it's been called off.”

You can watch every day of the 2026 World Snooker Championship live on TNT Sports. It is available both live and on-demand on HBO Max