Next month’s Betfred World Championship at the Crucible has been postponed.
The expected decision has been confirmed with an official announcement from World Snooker Tour due on Friday morning.
The 17-day tournament in Sheffield becomes the latest major sporting event to be cancelled, suspended or postponed.
And a tournament due to start on April 18 and preceded by a 128-player qualifying event from April 8 looked doomed as the coronavirus pandemic grew in the UK.
This week’s scheduled Tour Championship was first moved behind closed doors and then postponed until July after discussions with broadcasters ITV.
And five-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan claimed on Thursday that many Chinese players were desperate to go home.
It will be the first time there has not been a World Championship in April since the Sheffield theatre started staging the event in 1977.
And world No1 Judd Trump, after a spectacular record-breaking season with six other titles, will not get to defend his debut success from last year.
It is understood that the decision was only between cancellation and postponement, with staging the blue-riband event behind closed doors considered unacceptable.
And it is hoped the tournament can now be staged in July or August – with uncertainty over other events such as the Olympics preventing a firm decision for now.
