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Archive for the ‘Pro & Semi-Pro Players’ Category

Darren Appleton by the age of 29 has been considered as the No.1 World Player in English 8Ball Pool. And through the years, he has already earned himself the status of being a legend. This is how he was able to manage achieving all of this so much. He lives in England where he was born and raised all together. His time is spent on constantly improving his ability on the cue. His commitment to the sport is so zealous that he also runs a very successful pool Tour and also helps in promoting other tournaments around UK.

He also loves teaching young kids who are aspirants of the sport. This makes him remember the young age of 8 from which he started his interest in the sport. He has a brother named Shane who is also a professional pool player already. He is also very gifted in the fields of fishing and boxing.

Photos via internationalpooltour.com

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Niels Feijen’s love for pool started when he was about 11 years old. He was captured by the pool competitions he watched on television specially upon seeing World Championship Snooker player Jimmy White playing. A family friend by the name of Marcel Hesselmans was kind enough to introduce to him the rules of the game, being a pool fanatic himself. He started playing in The Hague which is the most popular snooker place in their home town.

Through the entire process, he admits in his own website where he retells his biography first hand that it was tough facing up to the challenges just to be considered a master in the field. He went through the hardships of going through a lot of road trips without any sponsors and things like that. But he felt his breakthrough coming in by 2001 when he was 24. He was able to reach the last eight at the World Championships, placed 5^th at the US Open and turned out second at Tokyo’s big event.

Photos via nieldfeijen.nl

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Thorsten Hohmann is also known as The Hitman in the world of 9 Ball. He resides presently in Fulda, Germany and he is known for being one of the greatest sportsman in billiards. He is actually considered already as an epitomy of what every professional pool player should perform and act. At a very young age, he already achieved an amazing career run.

He went through all the proper ranks from being junior champion to World champion. He was also one of the selected players who was coached and trained from the very first time he played on the table by renowned coaches. He also gives students of his own some remarkable insights on why Europeans are very consistent and reach success on billiard’s world scene. One of his title accomplishments is being a world 9-ball champion, world 14.1 champion, and a BCA Open Champion. He was also a North American 8-Ball Open Champion and a European Junior Champion.

Photos via insidepoolmag.com

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Mark Selby is known to be one of the youngest professional players of the snooker world. This started when he joined the much paid ranks only as a 16 year old in 1999. But it was not until the year 2007 when he started to show what he can really do in this line. His amazing run to the finals held at the Crucible Theatre made everyone really noticed the talents he have. His skills for the sport can even be considered as heroic to most sneaker critics and his unique antics made him earn the sports nick name of the Jester from Leicester. This also started his legion of fans.

Even after his win during the 2008 Saga Insurance Masters at Wembley, there were still many triumphs to come that made everyone excited. He followed up this triumph with his first ever ranking event title when he came from the back of the game against Ronnie O’Sullivan during the Welsh Open.

One thing is for sure: the future is bright for this young snooker player.

Photos via markselby.info

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Allen Hopkins was born November 18, 1951, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He is a powerful American professional pocket billiards (pool) player, professional billiards color commentator and BCA Hall of Fame inductee. He promotes numerous annual pool occasions and continue to play being a qualified contender. At seven years old, after viewing many tournaments on tv, Allen commenced to play pool on a small table his mom and dad bought for him. As an amateur, during the age of twelve, Hopkins ran a prodigious 110 balls and even took this skill to experiment with against developed men. By age 17, he proceeded to go professional and went on fifth place in the 1969 US Open Nine-ball Championship.

Around 2002, Hopkins triumphed in the Denver Ten-ball Open, defeating Earl Strickland, Filipino champion Jose Parica, Corey Deuel, David Matlock, and faced Shannon Daulton in a very thrilling double-hill finals. In 2008, he was inducted to the BCA Hall of Fame via the Billiard Congress of America.

Photo via azbilliards.com

Liu Hsin Mei is a popular Chinese Taipei pool player who has won already two World Nine Ball championships for the female category. She first won it in 1999 at Alicante, Spain and in 2002 at her own country in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. She also was able to win the BCA US Open Pool Championships in 1993.

She emerged in the scene as one of the best ever Chinese Taipei players all over the world. Many female Chinese Taipei players then started being recognized too in the world of pool, to follow the footsteps of this renowned Chinese Taipei World Champion.

Another asian women pool player that has made her way to the top is Ga-Young Kim. She was given the nickname Little Devil Girl. She is a professional Korean billiard player. She was born in Seoul, Korea and began playing the game when she was just 12. She became a profession by 2004.

Photos via taiwantoday.tw and flickr.com

Thorsten Hohmann is also known as The Hitman. He is a German pool player who became a professional in April 2003. He was born in Fulda, Germany on July 14, 1979 and became a very distinct player for his being precise in his games. He also turned out to be very popular in the world of pool when he beat the amazing Filipino player Alex Pagulayan during the WPA World Nine-Ball Championship in 2003.

He has gained numerous recognitions which include USA Sportsman of the Year for Pocket Billiards in 2005 and the Best Dressed Player award for the same year as well. In 2006, the Pool and Billiard Magazine hailed him as the Player of the Year.

His accomplishments in the world of pool include:

IPT North American Open Eight-ball Championship (2006)

World Straight Pool Championship (2006)

World Pool League (2005)

BCA Open Nine-ball Championship (2005)

Sudden Death Seven-ball (2005)

WPA World Nine-ball Championship (2003)

New Jersey 14.1 Championship (2003)

Photo via insidepoolmag.com

Mika Immonen also known as the Iceman is a popular professional pool player born on December 17, 1972 in Finland. He has already reached the level of being one of the most successful European pool players as he won many pool tournaments and also serving as a regular member of the Mosconi Cup – Team Europe.

With the young age of 35, he has already proven his worth to compete against the top players of pool all around the globe like Efren Bata Reyes and Earl Strickland. He is currently ranked number 10 by the World Pool-Billiard Association.

His recent accomplishments in the world of pool include:

Derby City Straight Pool Challenge (2007)

Korean Pro Tour Championship (2007)

Atlanta Open (2004)

On Cue; Philippines vs. Europe (2003)

Philippine Open (2003)

LG Flatron Challenge (2002)

WPA World Nine-ball Championship (2001)

Sudden Death Seven-ball (2000)

He is surely a great force in the world of pool to compete with.

Photo via nycgrind.com

It could be really so impressive each time we get to hear about a snooker player who have had numerous accomplishments at such a very young age. Jamie Jones is another one.

Jamie Jones is a professional snooker player from Neath, Welsh. At 22, he already has a very impressive amateur record and he was able to qualify for the main tour of 2006/07 by finishing top during the Welsh rankings of 2005/06. Unfortunately he was not able to maintain his place there. The best he could get in his first season being a professional player is to reach the last 48 of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix.

By year 2002, he turned out to be the youngest player ever to make 147 in an event that is official beating the record of Judd Trump.

He is yet to be known in this world and let us all just watch out for this young yet incredible player.

Photo via  prosnookerblog.com

Brian Morgan is a known English professional in the world of snooker being a player and coach. He used to be a World Under-21 Champion and became one of the top 32 players in the world rankings for numerous years.

In his career record, he was able to reach 16 in 1994’s World Championship. He also was able to qualify for tournaments in 1993, 1995, and 1997. By year 1996, he was able to take part in the finals of Asian Open when he beat Stephen Hendry. It happened before a close 9-8 loss against Ronnie O’Sullivan. During the same year, he also emerged as the winner in the Benson & Hedges Championship.

This entitled him to have a wild card place in the Masters. He was able to beat again Hendry during the 2000 Grand Prix. At the Irish Masters of 2004, he was also able to reach the last 16.

Photo via cuesport.net