Nutcharut Wongharuthai

Nutcharut Wongharuthai (Thai: ณัชชารัตน์ วงศ์หฤทัย; born 7 November 1999),[2] commonly referred to by her nickname Mink, is a Thai snooker player who is the reigning World Women's Snooker Champion. She is the only woman known to have made a maximum break, having accomplished the feat during a practice match in March 2019.

Nutcharut Wongharuthai
Wongharuthai at the 2020 Snooker Shoot Out tournament
Born (1999-11-07) 7 November 1999
Saraburi, Thailand
Sport country Thailand
NicknameMink
Professional2022–present
Highest rankingWorld Women's Snooker: 3[1]
Medal record
Women's Six-red snooker
Representing  Thailand
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
2017 Ashgabat Single

Wongharuthai was the World Women's Under-21 Champion in 2018, was runner-up in the 2019 World Women's Snooker Championship, and won her first ranking title at the 2019 Australian Women's Open. She won her first women's world title at the 2022 World Women's Snooker Championship, where she recovered from 3–5 behind in the final to defeat Wendy Jans 6–5 on the final black. She became the first Thai player to win the women's world title.

Winning the world title gave Wongharuthai a two-year card to compete on the main professional World Snooker Tour, beginning in the 2022–23 snooker season.

Career

In 2018 she won the World Women's Under-21 Championship. In 2019 she beat defending champion Ng On-yee in the quarter-final[3] during her run to the World Women's Snooker Championship final, where she was beaten by 12-time champion Reanne Evans.[4]

In March 2019 she made a 147 break during a practice session, which was the first and only known maximum break achieved by a female player.[5][6][7]

Wongharuthai was one of four women to be selected for the Women's Tour Championship to be held at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, which is seen as an iconic venue for snooker, having been the venue for the men's World Snooker Championship since 1977.[8]

She won the 2019 International Billiards and Snooker Federation World Women's 6 Reds Championship, beating Amee Kamani 4–2 in the final.[9]

At the Australian Women's Open in 2019, Wongharuthai and Ng On-yee were the only players to complete their qualifying groups without losing a frame.[10] Wongharuthai then progressed to the final, still without losing a frame, registering wins over Kimberly Cullen 3–0, Carlie Tait 3–0 and Jaique Ip 4–0 to reach the final, against Ng. Wongharuthai won the final 4–2, gaining her first ranking tournament win.[11]

At the 2022 World Women's Snooker Championship, Wongharuthai faced three-time champion Ng On Yee in the quarter-finals. Although Wongharuthai took a 3–0 lead, Ng came back to force a deciding frame, but Wongharuthai won the match 4–3 on the final black.[12] She defeated Rebecca McKenna 5–1 in the semi-finals before facing Wendy Jans in the final. Although Wongharuthai took an initial 2–1 lead, Jans won four of the next five to lead 5–3. Wongharuthai then won the next two to force a deciding frame, in which the title was decided on the final black ball. Jans missed the black into the yellow pocket, leaving it over the middle, allowing Wongharuthai to clinch her first women's world title.[13] Wongharuthai's victory gave her a two-year professional tour card, allowing her to join Evans and Ng on the main professional tour the following season.[14]

Personal life

Wongharuthai's mother was a cashier in a snooker club, and her father enjoyed playing snooker. Wongharuthai herself started playing at the age of 10.[15]

She is known as "Mink," stating that "in Thailand we call each and everyone by their nickname because our traditional Thai names are too long and we don't have any Christian name like Western people. So we use nicknames instead."[15]

Hi-End Snooker Club in Thailand sponsors and supports her.[15][16]

Performance and rankings timeline

World Snooker Tour
Tournament 2018/
19		 2019/
20		 2021/
22		 2022/
23
Ranking[17][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3]
Ranking tournaments
Shoot-Out A 1R A
Gibraltar Open A WD A
World Championship A A LQ
Former ranking tournaments
Paul Hunter Classic LQ NR NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Six-red World Championship RR A NH
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)		 QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Heldmeans an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. She was an amateur
  3. New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking

World Women's Snooker
Tournament[18] 2016/
17		 2017/
18		 2018/
19		 2019/
20		 2020/
21		 2021/
22
Current tournaments
UK Championship A A SF A NH A
British Open NH F Not Held W
Masters A A A QF NH A
World Championship RR QF F Not Held W
Winchester Open Tournament Not Held F
Former tournaments
European Masters Not Held F Not Held
Australian Open Not Held SF W Not Held
Belgian Open Not Held SF SF Not Held
10-Red World Championship NH A QF QF Not Held
6-Red World Championship NH A 1R F Not Held
Tour Championship Not Held SF Not Held
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)		 QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Heldmeans an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
PA / Pro-am Eventmeans an event is/was a pro-am event.

    Career highlights
    OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponentScoreRef.
    Runner-up 12017Eden World Women's Snooker Championship Challenge Cup[lower-alpha 1]Amee Kamani2–4[19]
    Winner 12017Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games: 6-red snookerWaratthanun Sukritthanes4–0[20]
    Runner-up 22018British OpenReanne Evans0–4[21]
    Winner 22018World Women's Under-21 ChampionshipEmma Parker3–0[22]
    Winner 32018UK Women's Championship (Under-21s)Shannon Metcalf2–1[23]
    Runner-up 32018European Women's MastersReanne Evans1–4[24]
    Runner-up 42018European Women's Masters (Under-21s)Emma Parker0–2[25]
    Runner-up 52019Belgian Women's Open (Under-21s)Steph Daughtery0–2[26]
    Runner-up 62019World Women's Under-21 ChampionshipPloychompoo Laokiatphong1–3[27]
    Runner-up 72019World Women's 6-Red ChampionshipReanne Evans1–4[28]
    Runner-up 82019World Women's Snooker ChampionshipReanne Evans3–6[29]
    Runner-up 92019IBSF World Snooker ChampionshipNg On-yee2–5[30]
    Winner 42019IBSF World Women's 6 Reds ChampionshipAmee Kamani4–2[9]
    Winner 52019Australian Women's Open ChampionshipNg On-yee4–2[31]
    Winner 62020IBSF World Women's 6 Reds ChampionshipDiana Stateczny5–3[32]
    Winner 72022Women´s British OpenReanne Evans4–3[33]
    Winner 8 2022 World Women's Snooker Championship Wendy Jans 6–5 [34]
    Runner-up 102022IBSF World Snooker ChampionshipWendy Jans1–4[35]

    Notes
    1. For players who did not reach the quarter-finals of the main event

    References
    1. "Rankings". womenssnooker.com. World Women's Snooker. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
    2. "Athlete Profile: WONGHARUTHAI Nutcharut". ashgabat2017.com. Ashgabat 2017. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
    3. Careem, Nazvi (2019-06-22). "Ng On-yee crashes out to Thai sensation Nutcharut in women's world snooker quarter-finals". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2019-07-22. Retrieved 2019-07-26.
    4. Reanne Evans wins 12th Women's World Snooker Championship title Archived 2019-06-23 at the Wayback Machine BBC Sport, 23 June 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
    5. Player Profile – Nutcharut Wongharuthai Archived 2019-04-07 at the Wayback Machine Women's World Snooker. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
    6. First 147 by a woman? Wongharuthai makes maximum break Eurosport, 12 March 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019
    7. "First female snooker 147". Daily Mirror. 23. 2019-03-19 – via NewsBank.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
    8. Women's Snooker Stars Set to Compete at Crucible Theatre Archived 2019-07-26 at the Wayback Machine World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, 4 June 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
    9. Pathak, Vivek (21 September 2019). "Nutcharat wins her maiden World Women title". ibsf.info. International Billiards and Snooker Federation. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
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    13. "Wongharuthai wins World Women's title". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
    14. "World Women's Snooker Championship 2022 - Nutchurat Wonharuthai produces stunning comeback to claim crown and tour card". Eurosport. 2022-02-14. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
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    16. Careem, Nazvi (2019-06-22). "Jealous of Hong Kong: why Ng On-yee and her teammates are the aristocrats and envy of the women's world tour". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2019-07-26. Retrieved 2019-07-26.
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    19. "2017 Eden World Women's Snooker Championship (Challenge Cup) - Knockout". snookerscores.net. World Women's Snooker. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
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    28. "Player Reanne Evans's matches in the 2019 World Women's 6-Red Championship". snookerscores.net. World Women's Snooker. Archived from the original on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
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    30. "IBSF Snooker Championships Women - Antalya / Turkey 2019". ibsf.info. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
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    34. "Thai woman wins World Snooker Championship - now Mink gets crack at the men on the main tour". Asean Now. 15 February 2022.
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