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Striking Viking at CEDIA EXPO 2005
May 1, 2005 12:00 PM
Trick shot billiards player to perform at EXPO.
Ewa Laurance — otherwise known as The Striking Viking — is coming to CEDIA EXPO 2005, Sept. 7-11 in Indianapolis. As the winner of all major events on the Women’s Professional Billiards Association Tour, Laurance will perform trick shots throughout EXPO 2005 from Friday, Sept. 9 through Sunday, Sept. 11.
Laurance is only the fifth woman in the history of the game to be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame. As a winner of multiple world titles, including the WPBA World 9-Ball Championship, the U.S. Open 9-Ball title, and the WPBA National 9-Ball Championship, Laurance is well known throughout the history of pocket billiards. Laurance is in elite company, one of only a handful of players to win all of the sport’s major titles. She also holds the world’s high run record of 68 balls in competitive straight pool, set at the U.S. Open in 1992.
Before making the United States her home, Laurance’s billiards career began in her native town of Gayle, Sweden, when she was 14. At age 17, Laurance won the European Championship in Switzerland and was asked to represent Europe at the World Championships in New York. Since then, she has not only been successfully competing on the Women’s Professional Tour, with consecutive years as the top-ranked player in the world with numerous WPBA Tour titles, but has also become widely recognized as one of the great international ambassadors for the sport, promoting pocket billiards worldwide.
Laurance is the only billiards player ever featured in a cover article in The New York Times Magazine, and has also been prominently featured in a number of other national magazines, such as People, Forbes, Sports Illustrated, Now, and Glamour. She has appeared on numerous television shows, including Late Night with David Letterman, The Today Show, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, Entertainment Tonight, The Best Damned Sports Show Period, A Current Affair, Fox and Friends, and Dennis Miller Live, and has starred in national commercials for Brunswick Billiards and No Nonsense Pantyhose.
Laurance is a two-time Player of the Year, and is a recipient of the WPBA Sports Person of the Year Award and the Billiard and Bowling Institute of America Industry Service Award. She has spent numerous terms as a member of the WPBA Board of Directors, working to organize and promote women’s pocket billiards, and is currently serving her second term as president of the WPBA, a position she also held in 1997. Laurance writes a monthly column for Pool and Billiard Magazine, and is the author of three books: The Ewa Mataya Pool Guide, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Pool and Billiards, and, most recently, Quick-Start Guide to Pocket Billiards.
Laurance has been sponsored on tour by Brunswick Billiards since 1988, and is the company’s only professional player representative. She is also the spokesperson for the Boston Billiard Club chain of upscale billiard rooms and a color commentator on ESPN billiards programming. Besides playing on the WPBA Tour, Laurance spends a great deal of the year performing shows and trickshot exhibitions across the United States and around the world, promoting the sport of pocket billiards. An avid golfer, Laurance can also be seen at numerous celebrity charity golf events around the country.
For more information, please go to www.cedia.org/expo or www.strikingviking.com.
CEDIA ELECTRONIC LIFESTYLES AWARD DEADLINES
Category and Deadline Information: All categories available for entry include the following:
Designers’ Choice Awards: Due May 6
Best Home Theater, Best Media Room, Best Integrated System, Best Hidden Installation, Best Dressed System, Best Special Project, CEDIA/Theo Kalimorakis Best Home Theater Architecture
Manufacturers’ Excellence Awards:
Due May 13
(Sponsored by Sound and Video Contractor)
Five Best New Products
Dealer of the Year: Due June 3
(Sponsored by Residential Systems)
For more information on CEDIA, visit www.cedia.org or call (800) 669-5329.
