26 February 2003, Singapore: Asia’s no. 1 sports broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) has announced the launch of the inaugural San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour 2003 beginning in Singapore on 15-16 March and will travel to Ho Chi Minh (12-13 April), Hong Kong (3-4 May), Taipei (24-25 May) and Manila (21-22 June) to determine who are Asia’s best pool players.

Organized by ESS’s Event Management Group, the Tour will feature Asia’s top players and will have US$50,000 prize money per leg. The top ten finishers on the Tour will get entry into the World Professional Pool Championships which takes place this year in Cardiff, UK in July. The San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour is the only pool competition in Asia which allows players to garner points to qualify for the World Pool Championships, which is anticipated by many to make Asia its venue in 2004. The Tour will also form the basis for the annual ranking of the top players in Asia.

On the broadcasting front, the five stops of the Tour will be televised on STAR Sports, culminating with the exclusive pan-Asian television broadcast of the World Professional Pool Championships also on the same channel. STAR Sports viewers can catch seven hours of world-class pool coverage from each leg.

Mr Richard Young, vice president of EMG and Programme Development: ‘The San Miguel 9-Ball Tour combines our expertise in organizing events with our strength as the leading regional sports broadcaster. 9-ball is a sport where Asians compete at the highest levels in the world, producing more world champions over the past few years than any other region. All of these – Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes, Francisco ‘Django’ Bustamante, Chao Fong-Pang and others – will be playing on the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour. Finally, Asia has a Tour to show the world its strength in this sport. We’re privileged to have San Miguel Beer as the title sponsor and we’re confident our partnership on this project will be worthwhile for both parties.’

Mr Erick Bartolome, group brand manager of San Miguel: ‘San Miguel is pleased to partner with ESPN Star Sports to bring you the Asian 9-Ball tournament. This partnership is a sign of our commitment to our customers and viewers across the region to give them a premiere billiards tournament. Billiards is one of the key sports that we support and having ESPN as a partner helps achieve one of our commitments to consumers and viewers in Asia. Bringing together the 2 strengths of the region: the synergy between a world class beer and a billiards tournament featuring the best Asian players. Cheers and see you all at the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tournament.’

Pool enjoys a huge audience in Asia that continues to grow. An estimated 36.6 million cable viewers were able to view last year’s World Professional Pool Championships (WPPC) on STAR Sports. In the metered markets of India, Taiwan and Singapore, the event attracted 18.2 million cable viewers. In Singapore alone, viewership of WPPC increased 41% in 2002, as compared to the year before. (Sources: TAM Media Xpress India, Nielsen Taiwan Telescope, TN Sofres Infosys Singapore, July-August 2002)

Before the San Miguel 9-Ball Tour, ESS was the host broadcaster of the inaugural Asian 8-Ball Championships in Singapore last September 2002 which attracted 167 entries from nine Asian countries.

For further information, please contact:

StephenieVasko, ESPN STAR Sports tel: (65) 6488 6129 or email: vaskos@espnstar.com
Mai Tatoy, ESPN STAR Sports (65) 6488 6134 or email: tatoym@espnstar.com