New title sponsor for China Open

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(worldsnooker.com)
Updated: 2007-03-23 18:48

World Snooker is pleased to announce that Honghe Industrial is the new title sponsor of the China Open.

The tournament will be known as the Honghe Industrial 2007 World Snooker China Open.

The agreement has been struck by the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association through its promoter International Sports Limited. This follows the recent announcement that the CBSA will underwrite the world ranking tournament for the next five years.

HongHe Industrial Limited Corporation is based in the Yun Nan Province of China. It is made up of HongHe Cigarettes, KangHe Group (packaging) and HongHe District Tobacco Company. The group also specialises in material storage and finished product transport.

Established in 1995 the corporation has contributed greatly to the improvement of the environment. HongHe Industrial has won numerous national, state and provincial awards in China establishing them as one of the countries leading corporations.

Honghe has previously title sponsored the Chinese Circuit Championship in Shanghai, Beijing and Zhuhai which included Formula Renault, Formula Campus and Touring car National China Race legs.

A press conference was staged at the Nikko Hotel in Beijing today to announce the agreement. It was attended by some 60 media as well as world No 1 Stephen Hendry.

Miss Zhang Lin, General Manager of HongHe, said: “The World Snooker China Open is a great addition to our sponsorship portfolio of major sporting events in the region and we are delighted to have become naming sponsor of such a prestigious event.

“Our beliefs embody client satisfaction, market growth, continuous improvement in the quality of product and service, heath and safety, pursuit of excellence and efficient management goals.”

The Honghe Industrial 2007 World Snooker China Open runs from March 26 to April 1 at the Students Gymnasium in Beijing. It features star players such as defending champion Mark Williams, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Hendry, John Higgins, Steve Davis, Graeme Dott and home favourite Ding Junhui.

After the press conference, Hendry went on to a resort owned by official table supplier Star/Xingpai to play an exhibition against wild card Li Yuan.