Issara Kachaiwong (born October 4, 1983, in

Chanthaburi Chanthaburi ( th, จันทบุรี, ) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in the east of Thailand, on the banks of the Chanthaburi River. It is the capital of the Chanthaburi Province and the Mueang Chanthaburi District. The town covers t ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

), is a former Thai professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in Ind ...

player.

Career

Kachaiwong first came to public attention in 2002 when he became the Thai national under-20 champion. He continued to impress on the amateur scene winning the first edition of the General Cup International, defeating players like Mark Allen and

Dominic Dale Dominic Dale (born Christopher Dale on 29 December 1971) is a Welsh professional snooker player and snooker commentator and presenter for the BBC and Eurosport. Career Dale was born in Coventry, England. He won the Welsh Amateur Championship, ...

and also capturing a gold medal at the 2004 Thai Games, before he finally qualified for the main tour by winning the 2006 Asian championships, defeating

Mohammed Shehab Mohammed Shehab (born 1976) is a former professional snooker player from the United Arab Emirates. The winner of the Snooker Singles at the 2007 Asian Indoor Games, Shehab has enjoyed good form in the six-red variant format, most notably at the ...

6–3 in the final. His best performance in the debut season came at the 2006 Grand Prix in October in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

. During that tournament he impressed, winning 4 of his five matches during the group stages. His only loss came against

John Higgins John Higgins, (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won 31 career ranking titles, placing him in third position on the all-time list of ranking event winners, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (39) and Stephen Hendry ( ...

. However he failed to make the top two as both Higgins and

Alan McManus Alan McManus (born 21 January 1971) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player and current commentator who works for Eurosport. A mainstay of the world's top sixteen during the 1990s and 2000s, he has won two ranking events, the 1994 Du ...

, who Kachaiwong had beaten, had better frame differences. He was the only player who won four times in the group stages who did not make it through to the knockout stages. The rest of Kachaiwong's results was not good enough to keep him on tour, but he was handed a wild card for another season. Despite a last 64 run at the season-ending

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, he was again relegated. At the 2010

ACBS Asian Snooker Championship The ACBS Asian Snooker Championship is the premier non-professional snooker tournament in Asia. The event series is sanctioned by the Asian Confederation of Billiard Sports and started from 1984. Mostly, the winner of the tournament qualifies for th ...

Kachaiwong beat Mohammad Sajjad from Pakistan 7–3 in the final to become the champion and regained his tour card for the 2010–11 season. Once again he struggled for results, his best performance coming at the China Open where he reached the final qualifying round. He finished the season 87th in the world rankings and failed to retain his place on the tour.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Non-ranking finals: 2 (1 title)

Pro-am finals: 2 (2 titles)

Amateur finals: 5 (4 titles)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kachaiwong, Issara Issara Kachaiwong Living people 1983 births Issara Kachaiwong Issara Kachaiwong Southeast Asian Games medalists in cue sports Competitors at the 2005 Southeast Asian Games