The 2008 Bahrain Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 8 and 15 November 2008 at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre in Manama, Bahrain. It was the fourth ranking event of the 2008/2009 season.
Due to a clash with a previously arranged Premier League match-day, three leading players (John Higgins, Mark Selby and Ding Junhui) were forced to miss the event. This meant that they earned no ranking points, with Matthew Stevens, Ken Doherty and Jamie Cope (ranked 17, 18 and 19 respectively) qualifying automatically due to the extra spaces in the draw. Likewise, the players ranked from 33–35 and 49–51 played one qualifier less than usual. Additionally, Ronnie O'Sullivan withdrew three days before the tournament for unspecified medical reasons.
Steve Davis was also involved in Premier League action, playing on 13 November, but did not withdraw from the tournament. He played his qualifying match and received a walkover due to O'Sullivan's withdrawal, meaning that he reached the last sixteen. However, before his last 16 match he withdrew from the event as an ear infection prevented him from flying to Bahrain.
Liang Wenbo made the 65th official maximum break during his qualifying match against Martin Gould. This was Liang's first official 147. Marcus Campbell made the 66th official maximum break during his wildcard round match against Ahmed Basheer Al-Khusaibi. This was Campbell's first official 147.
Neil Robertson won his third ranking title by defeating Matthew Stevens 9–7.
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
Winner: £48,000
Runner-up: £22,500
Semi-final: £12,000
Quarter-final: £6,500
Last 16: £4,275
Last 32: £2,750
Last 48: £1,725
Last 64: £1,325
Stage one highest break: £500
Stage two highest break: £2,000
Stage one maximum break: £1,000
Stage two maximum break: £20,000
Total: £271,000
Wildcard round
The 6 lowest ranking qualifiers played one wildcard match each. Matches were played at Bahrain International Exhibition Centre on Saturday, 8 November.
Main draw
Final
Qualifying
Qualifying for the tournament took place at Pontins in Prestatyn, Wales between 27 and 30 October 2008.