Born | [1] | 30 December 1993
---|---|
Sport country | China |
Pool games | Eight-ball, nine-Ball, ten-ball |
Tournament wins | |
World Champion | Heyball (2016, 2019) Nine-ball (2017) [2] |
Chen Siming (born 30 December 1993) is a Chinese professional pool player. Chen is best known for winning the 2017 WPA World Nine-ball Championship. [3]
Chen grew up in Heilongjiang Province, China, where her parents were owners of a pool hall, and she started playing snooker aged 8. Four years later, in 2006, she won both the 8-ball and 9-ball divisions of the Chinese National Youth Championships. [4] By 2009 she was being coached by Wu Jia-qing (formerly known as Wu Chia-Ching), the double world champion. Within a year, she defeated Allison Fisher to win the 2010 China Open, her first major title. [4]
In the 2010 Asian Games, Chen won the gold medal in the Six-red snooker event. [5]
In 2011, she won her second senior title, the Philippine Open, defeating Kelly Fisher 9–3 in the final, and later won the All Japan Championship. Billiards Digest named Chen as 2011 player of the year. [6]
Following further tournament successes, she won the 2017 Women's World 9-Ball Championship, [2] coming from 1–5 down against Pan Xiaoting to win 9–7. [3]
Efren Manalang Reyes, popularly known by the nicknames "Bata" and "the Magician", is a Filipino professional pool player, who is widely regarded as the greatest pool player of all time, and especially famed for his skill at the challenging one-pocket discipline. In 2003, he was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame.
Gerda Hofstätter Gergerson, nicknamed "G-Force", is an Austrian professional pool player. Hofstätter won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in 1995. She is a winner at the European Pool Championship on nine occasions, and won the Austrian national Championship seventeen times. Hofstätter is a two-time Hall of Fame inductee being voted into both the Women's Professional Billiard Association and Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fames in the Greatest Players Category. Hofstätter was the Austrian Sportswoman of the Year for Carinthia in 1993. Hofstätter played on the WPBA Tour until her retirement, doing so from 1993 onward.
Marlon Manalo, also known by the nickname "Marvelous Captain", is a former Filipino professional pool player. He previously served as barangay chairman of Barangay Malamig, Mandaluyong. He also became the press relation officer of the League of Barangays of the Philippines and ABC president.
Kelly Teresa Fisher is an English professional pool, snooker and English billiards player.
Lee Vann Corteza, also spelled Lee Van Corteza, is a Filipino professional pool player. He is nicknamed "The Slayer", and started playing pool in 1993.
Shane Van Boening is an American professional pool player from Rapid City, South Dakota. Van Boening is considered one of the best players of all time. Van Boening has won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship and has won the US Open Nine-ball Championship on 5 occasions, along with over 100 other professional titles.
Kim Ga-young is a South Korean female professional pool player who plays on the Women's Professional Billiard Association Tour. Her father began teaching her to play three-cushion billiards when she was about twelve years old. After playing three-cushion for about three years, she started playing nine-ball pool and turned pro at the 2003 BCA Open.
Daryl Peach is an English professional pool player, from Lancashire, who resides in Blackpool, England. He won the 2007 WPA World Nine-ball Championship, where he defeated the Philippines' Roberto Gomez 17–15 in the final to become the first British player to win the WPA World Nine-ball Championship.
Chezka Centeno is a Filipina professional pool player from Zamboanga City. In 2023, Centeno claimed her biggest career win after she defeated multiple WPA World Nine-ball Champion Han Yu of China, 9–5, to win the Predator WPA women's World Ten-ball Championship.
Ko Pin-yi is a Taiwanese professional pool player. He became multiple World Champion in the disciplines of Nine-ball and Ten-ball in 2015.
Joshua Filler is a German professional pool player from Bönen, Germany. In 2018 Filler defeated Carlo Biado 13–10 to win the 2018 WPA World Nine-ball Championship. In 2017 he was the youngest player to win the China Open, and in 2018 he also won the 10-ball European Pool Championships. Filler became WPA and Euro Tour world number 1 in 2019, and later he reached the final of the 2019 WPA World Ten-ball Championship before losing 10–7 to Ko Ping-chung.
Liu Haitao is a Chinese professional pool player. Haitao reached the semi-final of the 2012 WPA World Eight-ball Championship, and the 2013 World Games. Haitao won the doubles event at the 2017 Asian Indoor Games; alongside snooker player Lyu Haotian.
Francisco Sánchez Ruíz is a Spanish professional pool player, nicknamed "The Ferrari" and by his initials "FSR". He won both the 2022 WPA World Eight-ball Championship and the 2023 WPA World Nine-ball Championship.
Han Yu is a Chinese professional pool player. She is a three time WPA World Nine-ball Championship women's champion, winning the event in 2013, 2016 and 2018. Han is also a semi-finalist in three further world championships, in 2017 in the nine-ball event, and 2011 and 2014 in ten-ball.
Kristina Olegovna Tkach is a Russian professional pool player. She became the 2017 WPA World Nine-ball Junior Championship winner, defeating Lee Woo-jin in the final 9–6. Tkach is a four time European champion having won the eight-ball event in 2016 and 2019, as well as Straight pool in 2017 and 2019. In addition, she is a nine-time Junior European Champion.
The year of 2019 included professional tournaments surrounding table-top cue sports. These events include snooker, pool disciplines and billiards. Whilst these are traditionally singles sports, some matches and tournaments are held as doubles, or team events. The snooker season runs between May and April, whilst the pool and billiards seasons run in the calendar year.
Bi Zhu Qing is a professional pool and snooker player from China. She is best known as the winner of the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in 2011.
Fu Xiaofang is a Chinese professional pool player. Fu is best known for winning the 2010 WPA World Nine-ball Championship.
Joven Alba was a Filipino professional pool and snooker player. Alba was a professional pool player between 2009 and 2013, and having played snooker beforehand. Alba's biggest accomplishment was winning the team snooker event at the 2005 Southeast Asian Games. Alongside partners Leonardo Andam and Alex Pagulayan the Filipino team defeated Thailand team of Nitiwat Kanjanjanasri, Phaithoon Phonbun and Supoj Saenla in the final.
In 2018, championships were held across three continents to determine the best players in major cue sports, including snooker, pool, and English billiards. While these are mostly single player sports, some matches and tournaments are held as either doubles or as team events. The snooker season runs between May and April; the pool and billiards seasons run through the calendar year.