Han Yu (born 1992) is a Chinese professional

pool Pool may refer to: Bodies of water * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a roc ...

player. She is a three time

WPA World Nine-ball Championship The WPA World Nine-ball Championship is an annual professional nine-ball pool tournament contested since 1990. The championship is sanctioned by the World Pool Association (WPA) and principally sponsored and organized by Matchroom Sport, who pro ...

women's champion, winning the event in 2013, 2016 and 2018. Han is also a semi-finalist in three further world championships, in 2017 in the nine-ball event, and 2011 and 2014 in

ten-ball Ten-ball is a rotation pool game similar to nine-ball, but using ten balls instead of nine, and with the 10 ball instead of the 9 as the "". Although the game has existed since the early 1960s, its popularity has risen since the early 2000s as a ...

. Twice a winner of the

nine-ball Nine-ball (sometimes written 9-ball) is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with at each of the four corners and in the middle o ...

event at the All Japan Championship and thrice at the China Open 9-Ball Championship, Han won the "player of the year award" in 2016 for Billiards Digest.

Career

Han Yu picked up the game of

aged six following her father to a

pool hall A billiard hall, also known as a pool hall, snooker hall, pool room or pool parlour, is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards. Such establishments commonly serve alcohol and often ...

. She first appeared at a major pool event in 2007 as she won the China national

championship aged 15. She also reached the semi-finals of the All Japan Championship, before winning the event in 2009. In 2011, Han reached the semi-final of the

WPA World Ten-ball Championship The WPA World Ten-ball Championship is a professional ten-ball Pool (cue sports), pool tournament sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). The event was first held in 2008 in the Philippines, followed by playings there in 2009 and ...

, losing to winner

Kelly Fisher Kelly Teresa Fisher (born 25 August 1978) is an English professional pool, snooker and English billiards player, and has won world championships in all three disciplines. Career Fisher grew up in South Elmsall, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire ...

9–4, and later in the year lost again in the semi-final of the All Japan Championship to Bi Zhu-Qing. In 2013, Han became a world champion for the first time, winning the

. She defeated Fisher and Tan Ho-yun to reach the final, where she defeated Yuan-chun Lin 9–1. After winning the championships, Han began to pack up her cue, and did not celebrate. Han was then surrounded by fans asking for autographs and photographs, and broke into tears when her mother arrived. The following year, Han reached the semi-finals of the WPA World Ten-ball Championship, but lost to Kelly Fisher again. In 2016, Han reached the semi-finals of the Amway Cup and was defeated 8–9 there by the eventual champion,

Chezka Centeno Chezka Centeno is a Filipina professional pool player from Zamboanga City. In 2023, Centeno claimed her biggest career win after she defeated multiple WPA World Nine-ball Champion Han Yu of China, 9–5, to win the Predator WPA women's World Te ...

. Two months later, she completed a 9–8 final victory over Liu Shasha in the

China Open China Open may refer to: *China Open (snooker), a professional snooker tournament *China Open (tennis), a professional tennis tournament on the ATP World Tour and WTA Tour *China Open (badminton), an annual badminton tournament * China Open (squash) ...

. In December 2016, Han won her second world championship with a 9–7 victory in the final against

Chihiro Kawahara Chihiro (ちひろ, チヒロ,千尋) is a female and male Japanese given name. Written forms Chihiro can be written using various kanji, which can alter the name's meaning: *千尋, "thousand fathoms" *千博, "thousand gains" *千裕, "thousan ...

. Han won her third world championship in 2018, winning the nine-ball final over Wang Xiao Tong. Han Yu was picked as eighth seed for the 2019 World Pool Masters, missing the preliminary round but lost 6–7 to

Shane Van Boening Shane Van Boening (; born July 14, 1983) is an American professional pool player from Rapid City, South Dakota. Van Boening is considered one of the best players of all time. Van Boening has won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship and has won ...

in the first round.

Titles & Achievements

* 2009 All Japan Nine-ball Championship * 2013

WPA Women's World Nine-ball Championship The WPA Women's World Nine-ball Championship is an annual pool tournament in the discipline of nine-ball. The most successful player is Allison Fisher Allison Fisher (born 24 February 1968) is an English American professional pool and former ...

* 2014 China Open 9-Ball Championship * 2016

* 2016 China Open 9-Ball Championship * 2016 Billiards Digest Player of the Year * 2018

* 2018 WPA World Heyball Championship * 2018 AZBilliards Player of the Year * 2019 All Japan Nine-ball Championship * 2023 China Open 9-Ball Championship * 2024 China Open 9-ball Championship * 2024 Predator Las Vegas Mixed Doubles Invitational - with (Wu Kun-lin)

References

External links

Han Yu at propool.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Han, Yu Date of birth missing (living people) Chinese pool players Female pool players Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 1992 births World Games bronze medalists World Games medalists for China World Games medalists in cue sports Medalists at the 2017 World Games