‘Mink’ keeps date with destiny, becomes first Thai woman to win world snooker title
Nutcharut Wongharuthai, 22, has become the first Thai woman to win the World Women's Snooker Championship, defeating a former seven-time champion after pocketing the black in the deciding frame.
Better known among Thai snooker fans as “Mink Saraburi”, Nutcharut won the 2022 championship held in Sheffield, the United Kingdom, with a dramatic 6-5 victory against Wendy Jans of Belgium.
Jans, a professional snooker and pool player, is a seven-time former winner of the premier non-professional tournament, the IBSF World Snooker Championship for women.
Mink managed to pip Jans to the title after the Belgian player missed the final black in their best-of-11-frame face-off, after the two were tied at five frames each.
The match, held at the Ding Junhui Snooker Academy, lasted five hours and 40 minutes.
Mink’s victory has earned her a place on the professional World Snooker Tour. In the 2019 tournament, as a 19-year-old, she lost in the final to England’s Reanne Evans to finish runner-up.
Jans held a 5-3 lead at one stage and was one frame away from her eighth title. However, the Thai player staged a dramatic recovery to win the next three frames and claim the title.
Mink trained a gruelling eight hours a day for the world championship. Expectations have been high from Mink after she won the youth snooker world championship in 2018, when she was 18 years old. In 2019, she recorded a maximum break of 147.
