Hangzhou, China- Taobao.com, one of the world's top 20 most visited internet sites, will be the title sponsor of the now re-named Taobao World Mixed Doubles. Taobao coming on board as a mainstream sponsor of the World Mixed Doubles is a major achievement for the sport of billiards. This is the first billiards event the company has been a part of. With the joining of Taobao, combined with the already secured TV and media for the event, more people will watch the World Mixed Doubles than any other billiards event in China! ESPN Star Sports and ABS-CBN will be covering the event internationally reaching nearly 30 countries worldwide. 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 Taobao 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 Taobao World Mixed Doubles is http://www.top147.com/news/Doubles/
The event takes place at Jiebai New Yuanhua, #177 Yan'an Road, Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Tickets can be purchased at 9-Club or on site for 50RMB.
"This is exciting news for the event and it's future. Taobao is really a huge company, and we are really glad they came on board and liked what we are doing in billiards. This really gives us a boost in our China projects and other things we are working on", said Cindy Lee, CEO of Dragon Promotions.
Taobao.com is the most popular shopping website in China. Taobao Marketplace receives more than 50 million unique visitors daily and Forbes Magazine estimates its worth to be over $30 billion US dollars. Taobao is wholly owned by the Alibaba Group. The Alibaba Group was founded in 1999 by current CEO & Chariman Ma Yun (Jack Ma) . Alibaba and Yahoo.com have a strategic partnership with Yahoo as they are a major shareholder in Alibaba. Alibaba also controls and operates Yahoo China. Alibaba Group and its affiliated entities now have more than 22,000 employees across some 70 cities and regions, including China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
"Taobao and Alibaba have been long time clients of ours. They trust us and our reputation for excellence. It's just one more reason to make the Taobao World Mixed Doubles a truly sensational event for everyone. We are proud to be affiliated with them and bring such a top brand to our event", said Wang Di, President of 9-Club Entertainment and Vice-President of Rikko Decoration.
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.
Teams from England, Germany, USA, Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Finland, and the USA will be competing for the World Mixed Doubles championship title.
