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William Hill to Sponsor the UK Championship

William Hill to Sponsor the UK Championship

World Snooker announced today that William Hill one of the UK's largest bookmakers will be the title sponsor for the UK Championship at the Barbican Centre starting in York this Saturday. Therefor the tournament it will be known as the williamhill.com UK Championship.

William Hill UK Snooker Championship Logo 2011

William Hill UK Snooker Championship Logo 2011

The Barbican Centre, York - December 3-11

 

World Snooker announced that William Hill who are one of the largest bookmakers in the UK and have over 2000 betting shops located across the company and join other major bookmakers in recent years such as Betfred & Ladbrokes to sponsor a major televised snooker event.

Starting this weekend on Saturday the williamhill.com UK Championship sees all the top 16 players competing against 16 qualifiers for Snooker's second biggest prize on the calendar.

Defending champion John Higgins and former UK winners Ronnie O'Sullivan, Steve Davis and Mark Williams are all set to appear as well as rising young stars Judd Trump, Tom Ford and making his television debut; China's Li Yan.

Kristof Fahy, Chief Marketing Officer at William Hill said: "The UK Championship is one of the crown jewels in the world of snooker and we're delighted to put our name to such a prestigious event.

"William Hill is a worldwide brand and our sponsorship of the UK Championship gives us the opportunity to promote our online and mobile betting products to a global audience."

World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn said "We're delighted to welcome William Hill as the new title sponsor of the UK Championship. Having worked with their team at the Grand Slam of Darts I know they are a fantastic company, so it's fitting that they're sponsoring one of snooker's biggest tournaments.

"The UK Championship is one of the highlights of the snooker calendar and receives outstanding exposure through coverage on BBC and across the world, providing exceptional brand exposure for the sponsor to hundreds of millions of fans globally.

"It promises to be a superb tournament with 32 of the best players in the world gunning for the title." (Quotes - World Snooker)

 

John Higgins UK Championship 2010

 

Since removing the World Open from our screens the BBC only provide coverage of four tournaments (with the Welsh Open only appearing on BBC Wales.) with the last one being the World Championship back in April so it will be good to see the familiar presentation and feel that only BBC Sport coverage can bring to Snooker.

Unfortunately though the format of the event in the earlier rounds has been reduced to the best of 11 format, same as the Masters which has caused outcry from the players and fans alike. However the benefit that it does provide is that every match has the potential to be broadcasted on either TV or live on the BBC Snooker website which means that players like Li Yan & Tom Ford get the extra exposure which is always good.

There are rumors though that some matches might not be broadcasted at all due to cuts at the BBC. Hopefully these are just rumors and like it says here on the official BBC schedule that all the matches will be available to see online or on the red button for UK viewers.

Coverage of the williamhill.com UK Championship on BBC starts at 1pm this Saturday, 3rd December. Tickets for the event are on sale now - for details call 0844 854 2757 or visit www.worldsnooker.com/tickets

Posted Nov 30, 2011
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