Intro:

The world's elite potters are meeting in Beijing for one of the top snooker events of the year - 2012 China Open.

China is rapidly becoming the epicentre of the cue sport in Asia with five professional ranking events to be staged next season in the world most populated country.

For the world's top snooker players, a trip to Beijing in late March for the China Open has been part of their travelling agenda since 2005.

Script:

32 players from the world's top 16 and 16 wildcards gathered for the China Open in Beijing.

This year will see the first tournament in a new five-year agreement which guarantees the competition in the Chinese capital until at least 2016.

Local snooker sensation Ding Junhui has been experiencing some ups and downs this year.

He failed to progress beyond the opening round in three major competitions but clinched the 2012 Championship League Snooker tournament by beating England's Judd Trump in Stock, England early this month.

Ding has a chance to meet with tough competitor Mark Selby in the last-16 if both of players win through their first round encounters.

Home favorite Ding says he pays little attention to the result of the draw and he hopes to focus on the first round.

SOUNDBITE(Mandarin)

SUPER CAPTION: Ding Junhui

"I have never had the opportunity to see how the draw comes out. And basically I really don't care the draw. I will try my best to play well the first game."

Snooker now has a massive presence in Asia, particularly in China.

More people play snooker in China than all the rest of the countries in the world put together and television audiences for matches exceed 100 million, according to Barry Hearn, Chairman of World Snooker.

Players from UK also believe the fans in China are the most enthusiastic in the world.

SOUNDBITE(English)

SUPER CAPTION: Shaun Murphy

"It's something that we always very excited to see fans here who are the best in the world, and their enthusiasm grows every year. Without their support, the tournament will not be so successful, so they are the most important."

The winner of the tournament will pocket prize money of US$ 118,000 while the runner up will win US$47,500.