The new tournament on the World Snooker Tour will be called the Australian Goldfields Open and the inaugural event will take place in Bendigo from July 18-24, 2011. IMG Worldwide, the Victorian Government and World Snooker announced the deal to stage the event in Australia for each of the next three years at Bendigo Stadium.
“The Australian Goldfields Open will provide an outstanding opportunity to see top sporting action in regional Victoria,” said Minister for Tourism and Major Events Louise Asher. “The Australian Goldfields Open is the latest addition to Victoria’s award winning major events calendar of exciting, world-class events that is sure to thrill and entertain Victorians and visitors alike.”
Martin Jolly, senior vice-president and managing director of IMG Asia Pacific, added: “As part of IMG's long-term relationship with World Snooker, it is our strategy to expand the World Tour into the Asia Pacific region. Victoria has an enviable reputation for staging world-class sporting events and it is therefore fitting that they will host the first World Snooker event in Australia.”
IMG will act as the promoter of the event while IMG Media will produce and distribute worldwide television coverage of the tournament to a global audience. World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn added: “Snooker is going global like never before as we also have new events in Thailand and Brazil within the next few months, plus many more in the pipeline.”
The Australian Goldfields Open will be broadcast live on Fox Sports, which has provided coverage of several leading snooker events such as the Grand Prix Snooker, Premier League Snooker, Snooker Masters and the UK Championship.
