Norton is hopeful

Organisers of The Irish Masters Snooker Championship, to be staged this year for the first time in the Citywest Hotel, Dublin rather than the traditional horse sales complex at Goffs, still hold out hope that the tournament will run as planned.

The event, which runs for six days from March 27th to April 1st involves a number of the top players in the world including five World Champions, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Ken Doherty, Steve Davis and current holder of the title Mark Williams.

"I'd like to wait until next week to see what arises," said event organiser Kevin Norton. "The tournament is still 25 days away and I don't want to make a knee-jerk reaction. It is an indoor sport and totally different from any of the others. We are currently making preparations for it to go ahead as normal."

The Citywest Hotel can cater for at least 1,200 people, although, according to officials most of those who have attended in the past and most of the current enquiries have been from the Dublin area. In that respect the organisers believe that the majority of people who attend the event will come from the city and will not have far to travel.

"I'd say that about 90 per cent of the people who come to watch the Masters are from the Dublin area," said Norton. "If it was still being staged at Goffs it would be a different matter but it is in a hotel and in hotels all around the country there are events such as weddings taking place."

The tournament is being supported this year for the first time by the Department of Health following the ban of tobacco sponsorship introduced last year. The Irish Masters is the first major snooker tournament in these islands to successfully move from tobacco to a more acceptable sponsorship.