Snooker has continued to develop in China over the past year with ranking events springing up all over the tournament calendar. The 2012-13 professional season already has 5 China based events listed on the provisional calendar.
This year in March alone China will be hosting 2 high profile file ranking events, providing further evidence of the games relentless march forward in the Far East, according to E J Goh, Asia marketing manager for the Strachan cloth brand manufactured in the UK by WSP Textiles Ltd.
Strachan cloth has been used on all ranking events since 1980 and was again the chosen playing surface at the 2012 Star Haikou World Open for Mark Allen’s comfortable victory in front of a packed arena. Allen came out victorious with a remarkable 10 – 1 scoreline in the final against England’s Steven Lee.
The Star event is closely followed by the huge 6thGuangzhou International Billiards Exhibition (GBE 2012) which attracts almost 15,000 trade visitors and many new exhibitors each year. GBE 2012 was a showcase for the Chinese billiard industry and attracted a growing number of international visitors from every continent.
EJ Goh reports that more and more overseas companies are going to GBE 2012 as they understand the value of creating strong trade partnerships. “We have built extremely positive relationships with the better table makers as demand for high-end snooker cloth continues to grow in this part of the world,” he said.
“Quality table manufacturers like Star and Shender are impressed by products that offer a significant performance advantage such as the Strachan 6811 snooker cloth.” he added, “A professional quality cloth makes all the difference to a tables speed, touch and control. Performance and precision on the Strachan 6811 are unrivalled and it really helps to sell a table”.
The professional action resumes in Beijing on the 26th March as the big names roll into town for the 2012 China Open.
