Hainsworth Speeds Up Power Snooker

The successful launch of Power Snooker on ITV4 owed much to a unique, tailor-made playing surface from international textile company, Hainsworth, acknowledged as the fastest in the world.

Pocketing the first prize of £35,000, Ronnie O’Sullivan described this as his most enjoyable win: “This has brought snooker into the 21st Century and is definitely here to stay,” he said.

Developed by two of snooker’s most famous names, Rod Gunner and Ed Simons, Power Snooker launched at the O2 and received a positive reception across the world of sport. Likened to Twenty20 cricket, the game’s fast paced approach looks set to attract a new generation of snooker fans. The concept encourages vociferous audience participation as opposed to the respectful silence of the original game. In a year-long development process, Hainsworth created a specific dark green baize with a ghost print unique to Power Snooker. The UK textile business will now be the sole supplier of cloth for all future Power Snooker tournaments across the world.

Rod Gunner, mastermind of Power Snooker said: “Hainsworth leads the market in cloth innovation and supplies what is widely recognised as the best playing surface in the sport so it made sense for us to work with them when it came to developing a specialist table covering for Power Snooker.

“In this new concept, speed is key and we needed a cloth that helped achieve the fastest ball speed possible so the game worked to its best potential. Hainsworth has made sure we were able to accomplish this.”

Adam Hainsworth added: “We have worked closely with the Power Snooker team to develop a dark green cloth tailor-made for this new game, complete with a distinctive ghost print application. As the popularity of Power Snooker grows, we’ll be working closely with the game’s founders to roll the cloth out to tables across the globe.”

Power Snooker is a brand new concept of game where points, rather than frames count. Each game lasts for half an hour with twenty seconds allowed for each shot and double and quadruple points available when the ‘power ball’ red is sunk. The player with most points in half an hour wins.

The creators are hoping to replicate the success of Twenty20 cricket by introducing a contemporary and energetic twist on traditional snooker, in an environment with fast-paced camera action, music and crowd interaction. Power Snooker games are now set to be scheduled in the world snooker calendar of events.

November 2010