Best Snooker Players Gather in Sofia for Bulgaria Open

Snooker stars from all over the world will gather in Sofia for participation in the fourth consecutive edition of the Victoria Bulgaria Open tournament, which is part of the Players Tour Championship.

The Bulgaria Open begins on Wednesday with the qualifications and lasts until Sunday when the final takes place.

The best players will commence their participation on Friday, when the TV broadcasting stage of the tournament begins.

The tournament will be played in Universiada hall, which will also host an exhibition match between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Jimmy White on November 20.

The tickets for the tournament can be purchased online at eventim.bg, the prices ranging from BGN 20 to 150.

The holders of the most expensive tickets will be able to meet their favourite players in the room for breaks between the matches and request autographs from them.

Bulgaria will be represented by around 20 players, while the number of foreign participants is expected to exceed 200.

Eurosport will broadcast the matches to an audience of more than 120 million people in 68 countries.

A total of EUR 125 000 will be awarded in the tournament, the winner's prize being EUR 25 000.

The tournament will be contested by the best snooker players, including the winner and runner-up of this year's edition of the World Snooker Championship, Stuart Bingham and Shaun Murphy.

Murphy, who won the last edition of the Bulgaria Open in 2014, and Bingham played three exhibition matches in Bulgaria in July.

Among the other participants in the tournament will be also Judd Trump and John Higgins, who respectively won the 2012 and 2013 editions of the tournament, as well as Mark Selby and Neil Robertson.