CNN —No one dares speak louder than a whisper as nearly 1,000 people respectfully take their seats inside the dimly lit Crucible Theatre. They’ve come to witness the nerve-shredding, silently electric atmosphere of the World Snooker Championship. The World Snooker Tour (WST) – organizers of the World Snooker Championship – say the sport is watched by half-a-billion people around the world. The Crucible Theatre has been the home of the World Snooker Championships since 1977. Saudi Arabia’s pursuit of snooker should not be surprising, but moving the World Snooker Championship would be an emotional decision for many of its fans.

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