China vs Europe: Fu Xiaofang vs Mika Immonen

Nov 26, 2011

Hangzhou, China - China will take on Europe in two separate matches during the World Mixed Doubles. In the first, China's team of Xiaofang Fu and Haitao Liu will take on Finland's World Champion Mika Immonen and Marika Poikkioiki. Then China's Siming Chen and Hewen Li will go against Germany's Thorsten Hohmann and Neslihan Gurel. Both matches will be televised. More people will watch the World Mixed Doubles than any other billiards event in China! The World Mixed Doubles will be an exciting format which is unique in bringing women and men together on a side-by-side team, the only event of its kind. With the greatest professional players, the world's biggest billiard sponsors, the biggest billiards event producer Dragon Promotions now brings the biggest TV coverage in China. Dragon Promotions in cooperation with 9 Club Entertainment will be producing the event on November 30- December 2, 2011. The tournament is sanctioned by the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association. The event will pair the top men's and women's players together as a two-person team, with a total of 16 teams from around the world. The World Mixed Doubles is sponsored by Rikko Decoration www.rikko.cn, 9-Club Entertainment, Official Cue is Predator Cues & Poison Cues, Simonis Cloth, Master Chalk, and Aramith Balls. Official media partner is www.Top147.com. Link to the Official site for the World Mixed Doubles is www.top147.com/news/Doubles/ The event takes place at Jiebai New Yuanhua(解百新元华), #177 Yan'an Road, Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Tickets can be purchased at 9-Club or on site for 50RMB.
The Chinese players are very excited about this event. China #1 ranked Liu Haitao has this to say,"I know the tournament was held in Manila for the first time, but actually now it's the first time I am playing in World Mixed Doubles. It's going to be a great atmosphere in the venue, as it's held in a busy shopping mall beside the beautiful Xihu Lake. I already practiced with Fu Xiaofang my partner for one day. We have to know each other's game well to make our cooperation as a team successful. I've been to 9-Club before which mixes music and billiards together. It truly makes the normal tension of a professional tournament fade out, so it feels really great to enjoy the World Mixed Doubles. Hope the tournament is a great success and for more events like this one to be held in China."
Liu Haitao and Fu Xiaofang will not have an easy match against Finland's Mika "Iceman" Immonen and Marika Poikkioikki. Immonen is a World Champion in 9-Ball and 10-Ball, while Marika is one of the top women in Europe and #1 in her homecountry.
"It is a huge honor for me to get to play side by side with Mika Immonen, who is undoubtedly one of the greatest players of the last decade. I have all my faith in Mika and I trust him to be the team´s driving force. That's why I chose Royal Blue as our colour, because it represents Finland really well and of course it suits the Iceman!", says Marika with a smile. Finland's prediction? Marika answers, "I have only participated in one really minor team-tournament, so this is still new for me. But we are definitely going to fight to be on the top! For me, the result is a big question mark... You´ll just have to wait and see!"
World #1 Siming Chen of China and her partner Li Hewen, a 2x World Cup Doubles Champion will face the strong German team of 3x World Champion Thorsten Hohmann and Neslihan Gurel.
Thorsten Hohmann says, "I am a big fan of the doubles competition. To play with my partner Nes will be a lot of fun. Pool is growing in Asia and China and Dragon Promotions is doing a great job promoting the game and the players here. y first experience in playing with a woman, I played in the German Mixed Doubles Championship in 2003. She and I ended up winning the tournament. I love to play doubles". Hohmann recently won this year's World Cup Doubles event in the Philippines with his partner Ralf Souquet. Thorsten's experience in doubles play will be key to Team Germany's success.
World #1 women's player Chen Siming comments on her upcoming match against Germany. "It's a brand new format of tournament, as this mixed doubles tournament held in China for the first time. Feels really fresh! I believe that it will promote the sport well, and it's success will make pool more marketable in China. We're going to face Team Germany in the first match. Actually it doesn't matter a lot who we are going to compete against, I'll try my best to focus on our team performance. I've never played a doubles tournament before, and really hope to share some experience with Li Hewen. He has already won the World Cup of Pool twice, which is a huge men's doubles event. I think our team has a great chance to win the World Mixed Doubles title!"
The World Mixed Doubles will have 28 hours of original TV programming. The last event they produced for ESPN aired for 45 days straight daily. Dragon Promotions was voted the #2 Most Influential Company in the Sport of Billiards by an international survey of the billiard industry. They have produced over 100 events worldwide for the past 10 years.
"It's obvious to me as a journalist, that this is the most exciting and anticipated pool event in China's history thus far", says Tai Chengzhe, reporter from Pool Bond Magazine and Co-Event Coordinator of the World Mixed Doubles. "We wanted to bring a refreshing and exciting event to China, and we knew we needed a professional company to accomplish that. That's why we got Dragon Promotions, they are the best in the business."
Teams from England, Germany, USA, Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Finland, and the USA will be competing for the World Mixed Doubles championship title. All players are welcomed to qualify for the main event through a 1 day qualifier on November 28, 2011 at 9-Club in Hangzhou, China. The stage 1 qualifier event will take place near the main event venue.
Stage 1 qualifier is $100 entry fee per team at 9-Club
Contact candyshiyu@hotmail.com or call 1-500-005-3160 to register for the event
For all info on the event contact dragonpromotionsnews@gmail.com