Overview of the Xingpai Cup Haikou World Open: A new roadmap for billiards to advance eastward
With the successful conclusion of the 2012 Xingpai Cup Snooker Haikou World Open, the center of world billiards has finally set an epoch-making new roadmap in the process of moving from west to east. Whether it is a company independently hosting top-level events, or the skill of Chinese players has greatly improved, so that the attention of billiards in China has reached an unprecedented level. “Regardless of whether the British have such an idea, the transfer of the center of snooker to Asia to China is the general trend.” As the main sponsor and main organizer of the first Xingpai Haikou Open, Xingpai Group Vice Chairman, Beijing Gan Liantong, chairman of Xingwei Sporting Goods Co., Ltd. expressed gratification.
Historical changes: trends and strategies
The UK has been a mecca for professional billiards for many years. After all, in the past, almost all top ranking snooker tournaments were held in the UK or at least around the UK. Even the top professional players in Asia like Ding Junhui and Fu Jiajun are almost always Training and competition in the UK all year round. On the contrary, when the country was at its lowest point, there were only two competitions a year, and no one wanted to participate, but Xingpai insisted. Since 2005, Chinese billiards has finally ushered in a climax of development. Although this sport is an imported product, it is very suitable for Chinese people. According to relevant statistics, the number of participants in this sport is the largest in China.
As a leading company in the industry, Xingpai’s persistence at home and abroad has finally brought about a “subversive” change in the global layout of billiards. Nowadays, the growing market and enthusiast groups in mainland China have forced the World Taiwan Federation to shift more attention to China. The birth of the Xingpai Haikou Open is precisely in line with this historical trend. “And this competition did allow us to see world-level event operations and introduce a brand new stadium design, which is based on our long-term cooperation with Xingpai,” said Mills Miles, Commercial Director of the World Snooker Association .
At present, including the Haikou Open, there are already 3 top ranking tournaments in China. From the next season, in a total of 11 top ranking tournaments, the number of events held in China will increase to 5, while in the UK, there will only be 3 stations of the British Championships, the World Championships and the Welsh Open. It can be said that the Xingpai Haikou Open is undoubtedly sounded the epoch-making clarion call for this historical change of billiards eastward. At the same time, the Xingpai Haikou Open is in line with Hainan’s strategy of building an international tourist island, and has received strong support from Hainan Province and Haikou City. The construction of the international tourist island requires the help of large-scale cultural and sports activities to focus on Hainan, so that more people can understand Hainan. Island, Hainan Province and Haikou City have made this event an important event for the next five years.
Technology Revolution: Technology and Innovation
However, in Haikou, a city with relatively high air humidity, hosting top snooker events has to face the challenge of table humidity. This is precisely the problem that many overseas players have been worried about before the game. “We can make the table impeccable, but the weather cannot be controlled artificially. Remember that the humidity on the day we came before the game reached 99%.” Gan Liantong said. However, Xingpai is a global industry leader after all. In this game, their self-developed table heating system was fully put into use. By heating the surface of the table, the water contained in the table mud was evaporated, ensuring the normal performance of the players. In the end, the two British players, Mark Allen and Stephen Lee, met in the final of the Haikou Open. This was enough to show that after leaving the door of the British, not only did they not become “unaccustomed”, but they were like a fish in Haikou.
“Because Shanghai is also a city with relatively humid air, we encountered this problem at the first Shanghai Snooker Masters. At the beginning, we only used desiccant to dehumidify, but the effect was not very good. Later, after two to three years of research and development, we The drying system of the table was tested in the Shanghai Masters last year.” Gan Liantong said. Although the real product was not fully formed at that time, it was still being tested, but because the effect was relatively good, the World Taiwan Federation could not wait to request Xingpai to provide 10 sets of equipment. Because the air in the UK is relatively humid, these devices immediately came in handy in the subsequent games. The Xingpai Haikou Open is already an official product. Gan Liantong said, “This technology is our exclusive research and development and has applied for a patent.”
It can be said that billiards can flourish in more and more places outside of the UK and Europe, thanks to the fact that industry leaders continue to break through the forbidden zone of development through technological means. Only high-tech factors continue to join in, in order to ensure the long-term vitality of this sport. It is worth mentioning that, in addition to the Xingpai table heating system, the billiards broadcast Hawkeye system and the referee’s reset system have also become the new highlights of the Haikou Open. The invention, innovation and application of new technologies allowed the Xingpai Haikou Open to witness the technological revolution of billiards.
Reserve Forces: Talents and the Future
To maintain the long-term vitality of billiards is inseparable from technological innovation, but it is also inseparable from talents. But where is China’s “Ding Junhui No. 2″? During the Xingpai Haikou Open, the Southwest Snooker College of the United Kingdom took the initiative to find President Gan and hoped to cooperate with Xingpai in running a school. Last year, the World Snooker Academy had established an athlete training center in cooperation with Xingpai. Gan Liantong told reporters, “In China, we will join hands with the Taiwan Association of Taiwan and a well-known domestic primary school, Beijing No. 40 Middle School to jointly run schools and professional training programs will also be carried out one after another, hoping to cultivate a reserve echelon like Ding Junhui, Pan Xiaoting. Efforts in scientific research and development, talent training, etc. have allowed billiards to have lasting vitality.” At the Xingpai Haikou Open, domestic teenagers represented by Lu Haotian and Lu Ning can have the opportunity to be on the stage of the world’s top professional ranking competition. This is undoubtedly one of the most direct contributions of this event to the cultivation of domestic reserve talents.
At the same time, the Xingpai Haikou Open directly issued four wild cards to the top four players in the China Youth Snooker Tour last year, allowing them to compete on the same stage with the world’s top players, which is undoubtedly a great way for their growth. It is helpful, and these little players have really left a deep impression on the professional snooker masters. Especially the teenager Lu Ning not only broke Bond into the race with 5 to 4, but also led 2 to 0 in the confrontation with the world’s No. 1 Selby. “The emperor of billiards” Hengdeli boldly predicted after watching these young people’s games, “I think in the next five to ten years, there will definitely be more young Chinese players who can win the championship in the top ranking competition.”
Gan Liantong said, “This is what Xingpai wants to do most.”
