The rise and rise of Thailand’s Nutcharut ‘Mink’ Wongharuthai, the women’s snooker world champion ready to rival the men
- Mink has already made history as having the first official 147 maximum break recorded by a woman
- The 22-year-old learned the game while waiting for her mum, who worked as a cashier in a snooker hall
As a child, Nutcharut ‘Mink’ Wongharuthai reluctantly hung around after school waiting for her mum to finish working at a Thai snooker hall. But fast forward a dozen years and the 22-year-old is now the world women’s snooker champion – an unlikely sporting ascent which has put her firmly in the frame as a new rival to the men.
Mink became the first Thai to claim the championship when she beat Belgian veteran Wendy Jans 6-5 on February 15, holding her nerve to take the last frame on the final black.
But her meteoric career – which also already includes a youth championship win and the first official 147 maximum break recorded by a woman – has turned on coincidence as much as dedication in a sport which in Thailand is associated with boozy, smoke-filled snooker rooms dominated by men with a fondness for gambling.
“I was about 10 and my mum was a cashier at a snooker hall in Saraburi. The bar owner saw that I was bored after school so he taught me how to play,” Mink said.
“After training for some time I hit this crossroads between studying or pursuing snooker as a career. It turned out I couldn’t get into college …. so I took up snooker full time and made it into the national team. The rest is history.”
The snooker hall where she honed her skills was in Saraburi, a rural province outside Bangkok. It was owned by Atthasit Mahitthi, also known as ‘Big Saraburi’ a former top Thai player, who helped open the first doors to the game for the youngster whose knack for the sport quickly became apparent despite having to use a custom-made shortened cue.
Mink’s victory in Sheffield a fortnight ago sees her creep up to third in the global rankings for women players, just behind Hong Kong’s Ng Ong yee, who she beat in the quarter-finals on her way to the title.
