THE future of the Irish Masters Snooker Championships was secured for at least another three years yesterday when Benson and Hedges agreed a new contract with snooker's governing body, the WPBSA, worth a total of £585,000.

Making the announcement. Adrian Goodrich, managing, director of Benson and Hedges, said that, Government regulations permitting, he hoped that his company would back the event well beyond. the turn of the century while the chairman of the WPBSA, John Spencer, voiced his enthusiasm for one of the most popular events on the international circuit.

"This is a very important tournament, particularly for the players," Spencer said in Dublin yesterday. "I don't know what it is about it but 1 know that if players could only enter one tournament and you asked them which one, the World Championships aside, they would go for, it would be the Irish Masters."

Certainly the loyalty of the sponsors and the stability of the event, which will take place between March 26th and 31st and will carry a prize fund of £190,000, is welcomed by the governing body of a sport which is currently undergoing major structural changes.