The International Open Series (often referred to as
Pontins
Pontins is a British company operating holiday parks in the UK, founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. Since 2011, it has been owned by Britannia Hotels.
Pontins specialises in offering half-board and self-catering holidays featuring entertainment ...
International Open Series or PIOS
for sponsorship purposes), was a series of
snooker
Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...
tournaments that ran from the
2001/02 season until the
2009/10 season. It was originally called the Open Tour but was renamed in
2005/2006.
History
The tour was established to provide players not on the
WPBSA Main Tour or
Challenge Tour
The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe.
History
The ...
with professional competition, and the best performers were promoted to the ''Challenge Tour''.
It was organised by the
World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is the governing body of professional snooker and English billiards based in Bristol, England. It owns and publishes the official rules of the two sports and engages in promotion ...
(WPBSA) during its first season, but the
English Association of Snooker and Billiards (EASB), an amateur body, took it over from
2002/03.
The event was
open
Open or OPEN may refer to:
Music
* Open (band), Australian pop/rock band
* The Open (band), English indie rock band
* ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969
* ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999
* ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001
* ''Open'' (YF ...
to professionals, amateurs and international players for the first couple of seasons, but following the EASB's split from the WPBSA for
2003/04 the entry criteria were revised barring professional and non-English players from entering.
After the ''Challenge Tour'' was discontinued, the entry criteria were revised again to allow international amateur players to compete, and from
2005/06 the competition promoted players directly to the ''Main Tour''.
The series was abandoned after the
2009/10 season and replaced by the
Q School in the
2010/11 season.
Event finals
Order of Merit winners
References
{{Snooker tournaments
Recurring sporting events established in 2001
Recurring events disestablished in 2010
Snooker competitions in the United Kingdom
Snooker amateur competitions
Defunct snooker competitions
Defunct sports competitions in the United Kingdom
Snooker tours and series