In April, the successful 12th Guangzhou Billiards Exhibition in China was held showcasing a range of new innovative products from a variety of Cue Sports including Snooker, Pool, Chinese 8 Ball and Billiards.
The cue sports product industry in China has been booming since 2005, incidentally, the year that China’s no 1 snooker player Ding Junhui broke through and won his first ranking event in, ironically, China at the China Open.
Heaven Under One Roof for Cue Sports Fans
Since then, cue sports have been the bread and butter for Chinese fans as they enjoy watching a variety of players entertain crowds as UK players now regularly travel across Asia participating in snooker tournaments. Ronnie O’Sullivan is a crowd favorite in Asia. The Shanghai Masters will be taking place this month as the fans will again get to see the likes of O’Sullivan dazzle on the baize.
Not only that but China now has a string of events, including:
- The Shanghai Masters
- The China Championship
- The China Open
- The World Open
Along with the masterful players comes the craving for big business in products. Chalks, gloves, tips and cues all get showcased as fans, players, companies all come together under one roof in the China Import and Export Fair Complex. It’s the biggest trade fair in Asia and also recognized as one of the widely recognized exhibitions in the world for cue sports.
There are hundreds of product booths among 15,000 square meters of space. Not only do products get showcased but professionals also attend from a variety of billiard sports who also entertain crowds at the event.
Jenny Xiong of the Guangzhou Billiards Exhibition Committee said the GBE in 2019 was set to be bigger and better than any of the others as yet more products in Cue Sports get released in the next months.
She added: “The GBE will present to you a bigger better gathering in May 2019.”
The 2018 edition of the event saw these extraordinary figures from a press release given to SnookerZone:
- 105 exhibitors attended the show
- 8000 registered buyers
- 32 countries represented
Visitor growth from the 2018 edition grew, but one of the surprising stats from the report said that there were 31% of visitors who attended from Africa. The highest visitor rate came from Hong Kong regions with 41%. However, European visitor numbers were just 12%.
Featured Companies
Some of the product innovators on board in the 2018 event included the likes of Taom from Finland, creators of the magic chalk, the most talked about in snooker in the last year. Taom chalk is a product we have featured on the blog with an interview with the product creator Toni Ursin (click on the pic to see the interview) and a review of the Taom chalk in the Equipment Zone on SnookerZone.
Watch a video example of the atmosphere of the event here…
There is plenty of demand for products of all kinds, from training products to equipment for cues, cases, tips, and chalk. Just look at what SnookerZone has reviewed so far in both the Training Zone and the Equipment Zone as we will over the coming weeks review more.
See more on the Exhibition here
The 2019 edition will take place on May 9 – 11.