James Wattana

Wattana at the2013 German Masters
Born	(1970-01-17)January 17, 1970 (age 55) Bangkok, Thailand
Sport country	Thailand
Nickname	The Thai-phoon[1]
Professional	1989–2008, 2009–2020
Highestranking	3 (1994/95)
Maximum breaks	3
Century breaks	166
Tournament wins
Ranking	3
Medal record Men'sSnooker Asian Games 1998 Bangkok Team 2010 Guangzhou Team Asian Indoor Games 2007 Macau Individual Southeast Asian Games 2021 Hanoi Individual 2023 Phnom Penh Snooker 6-Red Doubles

James Wattana (Thai:เจมส์ วัฒนา; born January 17, 1970, as วัฒนา ภู่โอบอ้อมWattana Pu-Ob-Orm, then renamed รัชพล ภู่โอบอ้อมRatchapol Pu-Ob-Orm in 2003) is a Thai former professionalsnooker player.

A professional between 1989 and 2008, and from 2009 to 2020, Wattana reached his highestranking position—world number 3—for the1994–95 season. He has won three ranking tournaments, the1992 Strachan Open and theThailand Open in1994 and1995, and has finished as the runner-up in a further five ranking events. He twice reached the semi-finals of theWorld Snooker Championship, in1993 and1997. When he was defeated in the semi-finals in 1993 byJimmy White, it was only Wattana's second appearance in the final televised stages at theCrucible Theatre, his first being the previous year when he lost in the second round to the eventual winnerStephen Hendry.

Having received two-year invitational tour cards in 2014, 2016 and 2018, Wattana fell off the main tour at the end of the2019/2020 season.

Back in Thailand, Wattana is known as "Tong Sit Choi" (Thai:ต๋อง ศิษย์ฉ่อย, roughly "Tong, Disciple of Choi") a nickname which he got by winning a local youth tournament at the age of 14. "Choi" is from "Choi Susas" (Thai:ฉ่อย ซู่ซ่าส์), the nickname of Wattana's father and mentor Kowin Pu-Ob-Orm.

Wattana won his first major tournament, theThailand Masters, in 1986, aged only 16. As an amateur, he won theAsian Snooker Championship twice and the £6,000 first prize for winning the 1988 Kent Challenge in Hong Kong. He turned professional in 1989, after winning the 1988World Amateur Championship. His career peaked in the mid-1990s, when he twice won theThailand Open and rose to number three in theworld rankings. Prior to Wattana becoming a professional, snooker had been dominated byBritish (and to a lesser extentIrish,Canadian andAustralian) players.

He was the eighth professional player to earn more than£1 million in prize money, and with threemaximum breaks he is one of only eighteen players to have scored more than two maximums in competition. He scored his first one in 1991 at theWorld Masters and the second at theBritish Open,^[2] which was then, at seven minutes and nine seconds, the fastest ever made.^[3]

With the help of his PR team fronted by Yorkshire business tycoon Ed Clark, Wattana's success caught the imagination of the Thai public, and he became the most admired sportsman in his home country.^[4] He helped raise the profile of the game in theFar East, and has been followed into the game by many players from Thailand,Hong Kong, andChina, the most successful beingMarco Fu andDing Junhui. He is a Commander Third Class ofthe Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand, only the second sportsman to receive the country's most prestigious civilian honour.

He reached the semi-finals of theWorld Snooker Championship in1993 and1997, losing narrowly in the latter toStephen Hendry. After a strong2004–05 season, he returned to the top 32 of the world rankings, despite being the first player since 1992 to experience a whitewash at the World Championship when he lost 0–10 againstAli Carter in the final round of qualifying at the2005 tournament. By 2007, his continued poor form meant that he dropped off the main tour in 2008. He continued to play, however, and in 2008 he entered the World Amateur Championships inWels,Austria, where he lost to eventual championThepchaiya Un-Nooh in the last 16. He won the 2009 Asian Championships inTangshan,China, after beatingMei Xiwen 7–3 in the final.

His position on the current provisional rankings received a huge boost with a run to the venue stage of the China Open thanks to four straight qualifying victories.

The 2011/12 season proved to be relatively good, managing to qualify in 2 of the 8 ranking events, the Shanghai Masters losing to Ronnie O'Sullivan 1–5 and the German Masters, beating Stephen Hendry 5–1 in the qualifiers, but then losing toGraeme Dott in the first round. At the end of the season he finished ranked 63, just inside the top 64.

In 2014, he lost his place on the professional snooker circuit, as he finished outside the top 64 on the official world rankings list at the end of the 2013/2014 season. However, he was one of three players awarded an invitational tour card for the next season—alongside Hendry andSteve Davis—and has since competed fairly regularly in tournaments as an amateur. In 2015, he lost in the first round of the qualifiers for the World Championship 3–10 to Jimmy White. In 2016, he lost in the first round of the qualifiers for the World Championship 6–10 toPeter Ebdon.

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1989	Asian Open	Stephen Hendry	6–9
Runner-up	2.	1992	British Open	Jimmy White	7–10
Winner	1.	1992	Strachan Open	John Parrott	9–5
Runner-up	3.	1993	British Open(2)	Steve Davis	2–10
Runner-up	4.	1994	International Open	John Parrott	4–9
Winner	2.	1994	Thailand Open	Steve Davis	9–7
Runner-up	5.	1994	British Open(3)	Ronnie O'Sullivan	4–9
Winner	3.	1995	Thailand Open(2)	Ronnie O'Sullivan	9–6

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1986	Thailand Masters	Terry Griffiths	2–1
Winner	2.	1988	Kent Challenge	Franky Chan	3–1[6][7]
Winner	3.	1990	World Series Challenge	Jimmy White	9–3
Runner-up	1.	1990	Benson & Hedges Championship	Alan McManus	5–9
Runner-up	2.	1990	King's Cup	Joe Swail	4–8
Runner-up	3.	1991	Nescafe Extra Challenge	Joe Johnson	Round–Robin
Runner-up	4.	1991	European Masters League	Steve Davis	Round–Robin
Runner-up	5.	1991	Hong Kong Challenge	Stephen Hendry	1–9
Runner-up	6.	1992	Pot Black	Neal Foulds	176–252 points
Winner	4.	1992	Belgian Masters	John Parrott	10–5
Winner	5.	1992	Super League	Jimmy White	Round–Robin
Winner	6.	1992	World Matchplay	Steve Davis	9–4
Runner-up	7.	1992	King's Cup(2)	Nigel Bond	7–8
Runner-up	8.	1993	Nescafe Extra Challenge(2)	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Round–Robin
Runner-up	9.	1993	The Masters	Stephen Hendry	5–9
Winner	7.	1993	King's Cup	Darren Morgan	8–3
Winner	8.	2003	Euro-Asia Masters Challenge – Event 1	Ken Doherty	6–4
Runner-up	10.	2007	Euro-Asia Masters Challenge	John Higgins	4–5

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1990	Kuedos Invitational	Troy Shaw	5–3[8]
Runner-up	1.	2007	Asian Indoor Games	Mohammed Shehab	3–4
Winner	2.	2022	Southeast Asian Games	Lim Kok Leong	4–2

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1986	British Under-19 Championship	Barry Pinches	0–3[9]
Winner	1.	1986	Asian Snooker Championship	Gary Kwok	8–1
Runner-up	2.	1987	Asian Snooker Championship	Udon Khaimuk	6–8
Winner	2.	1988	Asian Snooker Championship(2)	Kenny Kwok	8–7
Winner	3.	1988	World Amateur Championship	Barry Pinches	11–8
Winner	4.	2008	Thailand Amateur Championship	Issara Kachaiwong	5–1
Winner	5.	2009	Asian Snooker Championship(3)	Mei Xiwen	7–3

• World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association

Wikimedia Commons has media related toJames Wattana.

• James Wattana at theWorld Snooker Tour (archived)
• James Wattana at Snooker.org

• 1970 births
• Living people
• Thai snooker players
• Asian Games silver medalists in cue sports
• Asian Games bronze medalists in cue sports
• Cue sports players at the 2010 Asian Games
• Cue sports players at the 1998 Asian Games
• Asian Games silver medalists for Thailand
• Asian Games bronze medalists for Thailand
• Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games
• Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games
• Sportspeople from Bangkok
• SEA Games gold medalists for Thailand
• SEA Games medalists in cue sports
• Competitors at the 2021 SEA Games
• Competitors at the 2007 Asian Indoor Games

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