World Snooker Masters field trimmed

World Snooker have reduced the field for this year’s Masters to 16 players.

The wild card round, which was introduced in 1990 for players outside the top 16 to compete in snooker’s most celebrated invitation event, has been abandoned.

January’s event in London will only feature the top 16 players under the new rolling ranking system based on the seeding cut-off point, which fell earlier this month.

But if a player from outside the top 16 wins the UK Championship in December, they will be awarded a wild card entry into the tournament.

Ryan Day and Liang Wengbo are the victims of the new system.

The duo, who were ranked 12th and 16th respectively at the start of the season, have now slipped out of the rolling top 16 with Jamie Cope and Peter Ebdon replacing them.

The tournament runs from January 9 to 16 at Wembley Arena.