Snooker:
DEFENDING UK champion John Higgins claims snooker’s second-biggest tournament has been “ruined”.
The £625,000 event has moved from Telford to the Barbican Centre in York, with Higgins opening up against Rory McLeod tomorrow week.
But the traditional best-of-17 frame format has been ditched until the semi-finals, with matches reduced to the first to six.
And Higgins said: “I still don’t know why it has been done, none of the players have been officially told. Apparently it’s for TV coverage . I do think it has ruined the prestige of the tournament.”