Silver to Gold
The trade mark silver legs on the snooker tables at major televised championships will turn to gold as a new table supplier is appointed by World Snooker.
In recent years there has been talk of a Chinese snooker revolution.
Marco Fu and Ding Junhui are ranked amongst the game’s best players and look set to be followed by Liang Wenbo and a host of others.
China recently launched an ultimately unsuccessful bid to move the lucrative world championship from its spiritual home in Sheffield, but does stage a ranking event in both Shanghai and Beijing.
The most recent development sees the governing body and promoter of the professional circuit, World Snooker announce Star Tables as its official supplier for the new season.
That signals the end of a 15-year agreement with Riley, whose Aristocrat table has been officially used since 1993.
Star tables have been used for a number of seasons in Matchroom Sport’s Premier League.
Now, a new three-year agreement with the Beijing Xingwei Sports Goods Co, a subsidiary company of Beijing Xingpai Group covers all ranking and invitational events worldwide, excluding the current events in China, for the next three seasons.
World Snooker’s currently engages a local promoter for its events in China, who will retain the right to appoint the official table supplier for those events.
Star table have been used in Beijing and Shanghai and also at the Jiangsu Classic in recent years. A process of assessment was adopted during these events before the seal of approval was given by World Snooker.
A World Snooker spokesman said: “We have no doubts about the quality of Star Tables, and this has been backed up by positive feedback from players. We are therefore pleased to sign this agreement with Beijing Xingwei Sports Goods Co and to use Star Tables for more events in the UK and beyond.”
Star Tables will be installed at venues like The Crucible Theatre and permanent facilities in Pontin’s, Prestatyn and at the World Snooker Academy at the English Institute of Sport – Sheffield, in readiness for the 2009/10 season.
Global-Snooker.com spoke to a few players about this announcement, and found a mixed response to the news.
One voiced his concern after spending thousands of pounds on a Riley table last year in order to prepare for major competition, only to now be faced with competing on different tables.
Others told us that the two tables played pretty similarly, and weren't concerned about the change-over.
