Jan 06 : Strachan™ reinforces commitment to pool.
Europe’s leading snooker and pool cloth manufacturer, Milliken®, has reaffirmed its commitment to pool in the shape of a new three-year deal that will see the Strachan 6811 brand featuring on pool tables at most major events.
And with nearly £300,000 to play for in 2006, eightball pool players are keen to see the new season get underway as the sport continues to develop at the junior through to professional level.
The new contract will take Milliken’s association with the professional and amateur game up to 15 years and, according to the professionals’ chairman, George Harwood of the IPA, it provides pool with quality and consistency where it’s needed.
“All players from amateurs through to our top professionals have become used to playing on top quality cloth from Strachan and high quality tables from Supreme. It is good to know that you can trust both to perform at the highest level with utmost consistency.”
Milliken’s Stuart Gardiner said: “We are developing products specifically for the pool market and are very pleased to continue our close association with the EPA and the IPA. Both are very well respected in the pool world and we are delighted they regard Strachan 6811 as the world’s best.”
The biggest EPA event in 2006 will be the world championships in Blackpool in June which will attract competitors from 20 countries. The EPA is also managing over 100 events in the UK, led by the inter-county championships and inter-league tournaments with about 450,000 players expected to compete in each.
In the professional game, the top event in 2006 will be the Strachan International Pool Tour, which centres around six weekend events when over 220 of the world’s top eightball players will compete for £180,000 in prize money.
Stoke’s Gareth Potts, the world eightball pool champion {pictured above} won five events in 2005, including the World Championships and the International Masters. George Harwood described this as a remarkable achievement in a year when Sky showed 120 hours televised pool.