Matchroom Sport

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Matchroom Sport is a promotions company founded by the English entrepreneur Barry Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool, tenpin bowling, golf, fishing, darts and poker.

[edit] Ten-pin bowling

Matchroom has been involved in a revival of the sport Ten-pin bowling which has given the sport a revived pop culture and worldwide interest.

With a roster of the world three major bowling events - the World Tenpin Masters, the Weber Cup and the AMF World Cup, Matchroom Sport have established a tried and tested formula to highlight televised bowling at its best. All three events are also presented by broadcaster and journalists, Nick Halling and Cass Edwards.

Matchroom Sport offer free tickets to the World Tenpin Masters. They are also distributed by the British Tenpin Bowling Association for free.

[edit] Pool

Matchroom Sport became the official sponsor of the WPA World 9-ball Championship in 2000, having organised a similar event, the World Professional Pool Championship in Cardiff, Wales, in July 1999. For 2000, the events were unified, and the Matchroom-produced event took the name "World Pool Championship". As a result, the WPA now recognises 2 world champions for 1999; Nick Varner, winner of the WPA championship in Alicante, Spain; and Efren Reyes, winner of the Matchroom event in Cardiff. The event stayed in Cardiff until 2003, with the 2004 and 2005 events taking place in Taiwan. For 2006, the event moved to the Philippines. Despite the moves, the event has remained very similar in format and staging throughout.

Matchroom's other prestigious pool event is the Mosconi Cup, held each December from 1994 onwards. This is a Ryder Cup style event, between a team of European players, and a team from the USA. From 2003, the event has alternated between European and American venues, having previous always been held in the UK.

The Mosconi Cup is notable for having evolved from an exhibition event in the early years, into a genuinely prestigious tournament. Early Mosconi Cups were characterised by a team of America’s more charismatic players taking on a European team of mainly British snooker players, in an attempt to promote 9-ball in the UK. More recent instances of the event have been fought in a much more serious manner, although the raucous crowd atmosphere has been retained, making it a unique among cue-sport competitions.