SNOOKER legend Jimmy ‘The Whirlwind’ White says it is a “shame” Bournemouth no longer holds a major snooker event.
The BIC was a regular venue on the tour calendar during the 1990s, hosting yearly events up until 2000.
That included three UK Championships, part of snooker’s prestigious ‘Triple Crown’ of major events.
John Higgins twice won that tournament in Bournemouth, while other winners of competitions at the BIC during the 90s included stellar names Steve Davis, John Parrott, Mark Williams and White himself in the 1991 Classic.
Dorset has not held a major tournament since the 2000 UK Championship.
The closest tournament for snooker fans in the county was previously the Welsh Open in Newport, before The Centaur at Cheltenham Racecourse hosted the World Grand Prix in January, still more than 100 miles away.
Asked if he would welcome a major WST event back to the county, six-time world finalist White told the Dorset Echo: “I don’t know, we’ll see. It’s difficult, you’ve got to have the facilities. We were in the BIC for 10 years.
“Unfortunately for us, because we all loved the BIC and Bournemouth, after the contract finished we forgot to renew it and of course someone jumped in for that week.
“We weren’t able to get the slot, that’s a shame.”
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