Matchroom Pool and Asian Pool Promotions are excited to announce a new strategic partnership that will see the launch of the Nineball Asian Tour in 2023 presented by Matchroom and the APP.
The partnership will break new ground for the Nineball World Rankings with plans to feature new 9-ball events on the 2023 schedule in Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Hong Kong China, Thailand, and Chinese Taipei.
The highpoint of the Nineball Asian Tour will feature a new Major event by Matchroom with a $200,000 total prize fund, the Asian Open to sit alongside Matchroom’s other 9-ball multi-table open events: The US Open, UK Open, and European Open.
Also featuring in the Nineball Asian Tour will be the APP-promoted Asian Championship, a development from the earlier event that took place in Singapore this August with the first-ever (Asian 9-ball Open), where Nineball star Ko Pin Yi took the title – the tournament became the maiden Nineball World Ranking event in 2022 in the Southern hemisphere and was key to the launch of the new tour.
Due to the overwhelming success, Matchroom and the APP have worked closely to increase representation from Asia on the Nineball World Rankings by bringing more events to the Far East.
Both parties hold a common goal to improve opportunities for Asian pool players, by promoting a competitive environment locally for players to compete in, with more prize money, ranking points, and exposure on offer.
It marks a huge moment in the growth of Nineball as Matchroom continues to create a professional, commercial platform as well as a ranking system based on transparency and a meritocracy for pool players.
Emily Frazer, Matchroom Multi Sport Managing Director said: “After watching the success of the Asian 9-ball Open earlier this year in Singapore, I was overwhelmed with the magnitude of players competing, live spectators watching and viewers watching the stream on their phones and tablets. There is a huge demand for more of these events in the Far East, the local players are hungry for an Asian Tour – a lot of the lower-ranked players are not able to participate in all the global events due to the length of travel and those who do, carry further strain both financially and mentally always having to travel the longest and adjust the quickest with jet lag.
Our Nineball World Rankings have only just begun, with our schedule growing every minute Asia was a huge market we wanted to reach, and I am pleased to be working alongside the professional and creative team at APP.
Every continent tour has a starting point, and this is ours but there is always something to expand on: whether that’s launching a Matchroom event or creating a platform online for everyone to watch. This is a very exciting project and I encourage any local promoters to join us on this journey with us.”
“APP is indeed honoured and privileged to partner with Matchroom in this unprecedented groundbreaking initiative to bring Nineball World Ranking events to Asia. The Nineball Asian Tour will undoubtedly boost Nineball in Asia as it will make the game more accessible and affordable for Asian pool players and provide a much-needed catalyst to spur the growth of the sport and raise the standards of play amongst Asian players. This can only augur well for the future of the sport.” – Christopher Chuah, Director, Asian Pool Promotions.
Matchroom 與 APP 合作推出 Nineball 亞洲巡迴賽
Matchroom Pool 宣布亞州撞球推廣 (Asian Pool Promotions – APP) 成為新戰略合作夥伴，Matchroom 與 APP 將在2023年推出 Nineball 亞洲巡迴賽。此次合作將為 Nineball 世界排名開創嶄新局面，計劃 2023年賽程中在印尼、新加坡、越南、菲律賓、香港、泰國與台北舉辦九球賽事。
Nineball 亞洲巡迴賽的高光點在於 Matchroom 將舉辦一總將金為20萬美元的新主賽事 – 即亞洲公開賽。其將與 Matchroom 其他 (美國公開賽、英國公開賽和歐洲公開賽) 有著多張直播球桌的九球賽事並列。
Nineball 亞洲巡迴賽的另一特點為 APP 的亞洲錦標賽，其為今年8月在新加坡舉辦由柯秉逸奪冠的首屆亞洲9號球公開賽 – 該賽事不僅是 2022年南半球首項 Nineball 世界排名賽事，也為推出新巡迴賽的關鍵點。雙方的共同目標是為藉由賽事舉辦在當地營造競賽環境讓球員參賽，從而為亞洲球員提供了更多機會，獲得更多獎金、排名積分與曝光率。
Matchroom Multi Sport 總監 Emily Frazer 說道：”今年8月在新加坡看到亞洲9號球公開賽的成功舉辦後，我對參賽選手、現場觀眾以及通過智慧型裝置觀看直播的觀眾規模感到驚訝。遠東地區對此類賽事的需求量很大，當地球員渴望參加亞洲巡迴賽 – 很多排名較低的球員因路程遙遠而無法參加全球的賽事，而那些參加的球員，總需經過長時間的旅程，並在抵達比賽當地後以最快速地調整時差，其在經濟與精神上都承受著很大的壓力。
我們的九號球世界排名才剛開始，隨著我們的日程安排每刻都在增長，亞洲是我們想要進入的巨大市場，我很高興能與亞州撞球推廣 (APP) 的專業又創意的團隊合作。每個地區 (州) 的巡迴賽都有個起點，這是我們的起點，但總有些事情可擴展：無論是 Matchroom 的賽事還是創建一個線上平台供大家觀看。這是個非常令人興奮的項目，我鼓勵任何當地的承辦者加入我們行列。”
亞洲撞球推廣 (APP – Asian Pool Promotions) 總監 Christopher Chuah 表示：”APP 非常榮幸能與 Matchroom 合作，將九球世界排名賽事帶到亞洲。無疑將推動 Nineball 在亞洲的發展，它使得這項運動對亞洲球員來說參賽更便利並負擔得起，並且成為一催化劑進一步促進這項運動的發展且提高亞洲球員的競技水平”