A dying sport? Not in Germany

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Action from the Hamm Invitational late last year

There has been a lot of talk recently about the popularity of snooker at the moment, but in Germany at least, the future looks to be brighter than ever with a number of events lined up between now and the start of next season…

Before I outline some of the exhibitions taking place in Germany, I would like to say in advance that some of my translations might be slightly dodgy due to using Google translate for a few things. If you spot anything wrong, let me know and I’ll change it.

Also thanks to Daniel from http://www.snookerspot.de for the assistance provided with this post.

Ronnie Reloaded

Following the success of the Hamm exhibition back in November, Ronnie O’Sullivan will be back in Germany, this time in Berlin as part of the Ronnie Reloaded event. The key details can be found here in German, though from what I can tell the important bits are as follows:

When?

The event will take place on March 19th 2009

Where?

The venue is the:

Tempodrom Berlin
Möckernstraße 10
10963 Berlin

More information on the venue can be found here on their website.

Who?

Well as the name of the event would suggest, Ronnie O’Sullivan will be the star attraction, though he will be supported by Shaun Murphy, Liu Song, Chris McBreen and according to a post over at The Snooker Forum, Jimmy White too. If someone could confirm Jimmy’s appearance that would be useful as I have not seen anything official on this.

Tickets?

Tickets appear to be selling fast but it would appear that there are some available from both here and here.

Wuppertal Snooker Exhibition

Soon after the World Championship, three of snooker’s biggest stars will be in action in Wuppertal this May and you can read find out more at http://www.snookermasters.de/, again in German of course.

When?

This exhibition will take place on May 16th 2009, starting at 17:00 local time.

Where?

The exhibition will take place at the Unihalle, Wuppertal. Directions can be find by following this link.

Who?

The three big names involved here are snooker legends Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry, as well as recent Welsh Open champion Ali Carter. Well worth seeing I suspect!

Tickets?

Ticket information can be found here and it looks like you can book either online or by telephone.

Halle (Saale) Exhibition

Information is pretty limited on this one and hopefully I can update this post as time goes by, but this is what we know so far. You can also find information here.

When?

This event will take place on Saturday 20th June and the action gets underway at 15:00 local time.

Where?

The exact location appears to be unconfirmed, hopefully this will become clear soon…

Who?

Another excellent line-up here as joining Hendry and Davis will be world number four Mark Selby.  Whether or not more players will be involved remains to be seen but do not be surprised to see a few more professionals invited along.

Tickets?

Again, this remains to be seen, perhaps unsurprisingly if a venue has not been announced yet! If anyone has more information on this, please let me know.

The 2009 Paul Hunter Classic

Last but certainly not least we have the Paul Hunter Classic, a tournament being staged for the fifth time this August. Further information can be found in German over at http://www.snookerstars.de

When?

This event will take place between August 13th-16th 2009 and the action gets underway at 15:00 local time.

Where?

As ever, this event will be staged at:

Stadthalle Fürth, Fürth Rose Street, 90762 Fürth

Who?

Already confirmed for the tournament are Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams, Ryan Day, Ken Doherty, Stuart Bingham and Joe Perry, with more sure to be announced between now and August.

Tickets?

Information on the tickets is available at http://www.snookerstars.de once again. Tickets went on sale on February 13th.

That is all I know right now, again if anyone has any further information or I have made an errors, feel free to leave a comment and let me know. Also if anyone attends any of the events, pictures or reports are always welcome!