James Wattana
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James Wattana at 2013 German Masters
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|
| Born |
January 17, 1970 Bangkok, Thailand |
|---|---|
| Sport country |
 Thailand
|
| Nickname |
Thai-Phoon Thai Tornado Tong Sit Choi (in Thailand) |
| Professional | 1989–2008, 2009–2014 |
| Highest ranking | 3 (1994/95) |
| Current ranking | 84 (as of 18 December 2016) |
| Career winnings | £1,720,928 |
| Highest break | 147 (3 times) |
| Century breaks | 160 |
| Tournament wins | |
| Ranking | 3 |
| Non-ranking | 6 |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's Snooker | ||
| Asian Games | ||
 |
2010 Guangzhou | Team |
| Asian Indoor Games | ||
 |
2007 Macau | Individual |
James Wattana (born January 17, 1970, as Wattana Pu-Ob-Orm, then renamed Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm in 2003) is a Thai former professional snooker player who now competes as an amateur.
A professional between 1989 and 2008 and again from 2009 to 2014, Wattana reached his highest ranking position - 3rd - for the 1994/1995 season. He has won three ranking tournaments - the 1992 Strachan Challenge and the Thailand Open in 1994 and 1995 - and has finished as the runner-up in a further five. He twice reached the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship, in 1993 and 1997.
Wattana won his first major tournament, the Camus Thailand Masters, in 1986, aged only 16. He turned professional in 1989, after winning the 1988 World Amateur Championship. His career peaked in the mid-1990s, when he twice won the Thailand Open and rose to number three in the world rankings. Prior to Wattana becoming a professional, snooker had been dominated by British (and to a lesser extent Irish, Canadian and Australian) players.
He was the eighth professional player to earn more than £1 million in prize money, and with three maximums he is one of only seven players to have scored more than two maximum breaks in competition. He scored his first one in 1991 at the World Masters and the second at the 1992 British Open, which was then, at six minutes and nine seconds, the fastest ever made.
Wattana's success caught the imagination of the Thai public, and he became the most admired sportsman in his home country. He helped raise the profile of the game in the Far East, and has been followed into the game by many players from Thailand, Hong Kong, and China, the most successful ones being Marco Fu and Ding Junhui. He is a Commander Third Class of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand, only the second sportsman to receive the country's most prestigious civilian honour.
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