Nutcharut Wongharuthai
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Nutcharut Wongharuthai (, ; born 7 November 1999), better known as Mink Nutcharut, is a Thai
snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...
player who competes on both the professional
World Snooker Tour The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of about 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. It is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial arm of professional snooker, ...
and the World Women's Snooker Tour. She is the only woman known to have made a
maximum break A maximum break (also known as a maximum, a 147, or orally, a onefourseven) is the highest possible in snooker in normal circumstances and is a special type of . A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 with 15 for 120 points, fo ...
, having achieved the feat during a practice match in March 2019. She is, as of June 2025, number one in the world women's snooker rankings. Nutcharut was World Women's Under-21 Champion in 2018, was runner-up to
Reanne Evans Reanne Evans (born 25 October 1985) is an English professional snooker player and regular pundit on televised snooker broadcasts. Widely recognised as the most successful female player in the sport's history, she has won the World Women's Sno ...
in the 2019 World Women's Snooker Championship, and won the first of her seven ranking titles at the 2019 Australian Women's Open. She won the 2022 World Women's Snooker Championship, defeating
Wendy Jans Wendy Jans (born 14 June 1983, in Bree, Belgium) is a Belgian professional snooker and pool player. She has won the IBSF World Snooker Championship for women nine times. She reached her first women's world final at the 2022 World Women's Snooke ...
6–5 on the final black to become the tournament's first Thai winner. She lost the
2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
final in the against
Bai Yulu Bai Yulu (; born 10 July 2003) is a Chinese professional snooker player who competes both on the women's tour and the main World Snooker Tour. A former world junior champion, she is the reigning women's world champion, having won the 2024 and ...
. As world women's champion, Nutcharut earned a two-year card to compete on the professional tour, beginning in the
2022–23 snooker season The 2022–23 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played from June 2022 to May 2023. Players The World Snooker Tour in the 2022–23 season initially consisted of a field of 131 professional players, but later dropped to 130 w ...
. She and
Neil Robertson Neil Alexander Robertson (born 11 February 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player, who is a former List of World Snooker Championship winners, world champion and former List of world number one snooker players, world number one. He ...
won the 2022 World Mixed Doubles championship, defeating
Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player. Ranked List of world number one snooker players, world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 24 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the all ...
and
Rebecca Kenna Rebecca Kenna (' Granger; born 11 January 1989) is an English professional snooker player from Keighley. She defeated Anna Prysazhnuka 4–1 in the final to win the 2024 Women's EBSA European Snooker Championship. She was runner-up in the 2018 Wor ...
in the final. As the top-ranked player in World Women's snooker at the end of 2023–24, Nutcharut gained a new tour card for the two years starting with the
2024–25 snooker season The 2024–25 snooker season was a professional snooker season featuring tournaments played between June 2024 and May 2025, including the professional World Snooker Tour, the second-tier Q Tour and featured events from World Women's Snooker an ...
.


Early life

Nutcharut Wongharuthai was born on 7 November 1999, in
Saraburi Saraburi City ('' thesaban mueang'') is the provincial capital of Saraburi Province in central Thailand. In 2020, it had a population of 60,809 people, and covers the complete ''tambon'' Pak Phriao of the Mueang Saraburi district. Location ...
, Thailand, and grew up there. She is known as "Mink", and explained in a 2019 interview with Matt Huart for ''
World Women's Snooker World Women's Snooker, founded as the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association (WLBSA) in 1981, and known as World Ladies Billiards and Snooker (WLBS) from 2015 to 2018, is a subsidiary company of the World Professional Billiards and Snoo ...
'' that "in Thailand we call each and everyone by their nickname because our traditional Thai names are too long and we don't have any Christian name like Western people. So we use nicknames instead." Nutcharut's mother was a cashier in a snooker club, and Nutcharut herself started playing at the age of 10, to occupy her time after school while waiting for her mother to finish work. She was encouraged to play by the club's owner
Atthasit Mahitthi Atthasit Mahitthi () (born 13 September 1978) is a former professional Thai snooker player. Mahitthi reached the semi-final at the 2006 IBSF World Amateur Championship in Amman, Jordan, where he was eliminated by Kurt Maflin 8–4. He has ear ...
, who was a leading player in Thailand, and coached her. Having failed to get into college, Nutcharut took up snooker as a career. She moved to Bangkok, where she practised for eight hours a day at the Hi-End Snooker Club, which sponsors and supports her.


Women's snooker

Nutcharut reached the final of the 2015
IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship The IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship (also known as the World Amateur Under-21 Snooker Championship) is the premier non-professional junior snooker tournament in the world. The event series is sanctioned by the International Billiards and S ...
for women, but lost 2–5 to
Baipat Siripaporn Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan (, born 24 May 1999), better known as Baipat Siripaporn, is a Thai snooker player. She won the 2023 World Women's Snooker Championship, which earned her a two-year tour card to the main professional World Snooker Tour ...
. She won in 2016, aged 16, defeating Siripaporn 5–4 in the final. and retained the title at the next two annual tournaments. At the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games 6-red snooker, Nutcharut took the gold medal with a 4–0 victory against
Waratthanun Sukritthanes Waratthanun Sukritthanes (; born 5 December 1993) is a snooker player from Thailand. She was the 2018 IBSF World Snooker Championship Women's Champion, and was the runner-up in 2017. Biography Sukritthanes reached the 2017 IBSF World Snooker C ...
. At her first tournament in the UK, the 2018 British Open, Nutcharut defeated the reigning world champion
Ng On-yee Ng On-yee (; born 17 November 1990) is a Hong Kong professional snooker player who has won three IBSF World Snooker Championships and three World Women's Snooker Championship, World Women's Snooker world championships. She held the number one ...
on the way to her first
World Women's Snooker World Women's Snooker, founded as the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association (WLBSA) in 1981, and known as World Ladies Billiards and Snooker (WLBS) from 2015 to 2018, is a subsidiary company of the World Professional Billiards and Snoo ...
ranking final, in which she lost 0–4 to
Reanne Evans Reanne Evans (born 25 October 1985) is an English professional snooker player and regular pundit on televised snooker broadcasts. Widely recognised as the most successful female player in the sport's history, she has won the World Women's Sno ...
. Two months later, she won the 2018 World Women's Snooker Under-21 Championship without losing a frame, including a 3–0 victory over Emma Parker in the final. In March 2019 she made a 147 break during a practice session, which was the first and only known
maximum break A maximum break (also known as a maximum, a 147, or orally, a onefourseven) is the highest possible in snooker in normal circumstances and is a special type of . A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 with 15 for 120 points, fo ...
achieved by a female player. She defeated defending champion Ng in the quarter-final during her run to the 2019 World Women's Snooker Championship final, where she lost to 12-time champion Evans. Nutcharut was one of four women to be selected for the Women's Tour Championship held at the
Crucible Theatre The Crucible Theatre, or simply The Crucible, is a theatre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which opened in 1971. Its name refers to crucible steel, which was developed in Sheffield in 1740 and drove the industrialisation of the city. ...
, Sheffield in August 2019. It was the first time since 2003 that women would play at the venue which has an iconic status in snooker as the location for the
World Snooker Championship The World Snooker Championship, or simply known as the World Championship, is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the richest event to date with a total prize money of £2,395,000, including ...
annually from
1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...
. She played Evans in the semi-finals, and after the pair had each won one frame, the match was settled on a rather than a third frame, due to time constraints. Evans won by potting the ball with a . The following month, Nutcharut won the 2019
International Billiards and Snooker Federation The International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) is an organisation that governs non-professional snooker and English billiards around the world. As of January 2020, the organisation is headquartered in Doha, Qatar. History The World Bil ...
World Women's 6 Reds Championship, beating
Amee Kamani Amee Kamani (born 3 June 1992) is an Indian snooker player. She was runner-up in the 2016 International Billiards and Snooker Federation World Snooker championship, losing 0–5 in the final to the defending champion Wendy Jans. Kamani was t ...
4–2 in the final. At the Australian Open in 2019, Nutcharut and Ng were the only players to complete their qualifying groups without losing a frame. Nutcharut then registered wins over Kimberly Cullen 3–0, Carlie Tait 3–0 and
Jaique Ip Jaique Ip Wan-in MH (; born 15 January 1980) is a Hong Kong amateur snooker player. Biography Ip won the silver medal at the 2006 IBSF World Championships in Amman, Jordan, after she lost 5–0 in the final against Wendy Jans.
4–0 to reach the final against Ng. Nutcharut won the final 4–2, gaining her first ranking tournament win. From February 2020 to January 2022, Nutcharut did not compete on the World Women's Snooker circuit due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. At her first tournament back, she won the 2022 British Open with a 4–3 win against Evans. In March 2020, she retained the IBSF World Women's 6 Reds Championship by defeating Diana Stateczny 5–3. At the 2022 World Women's Snooker Championship, Nutcharut faced three-time champion Ng in the quarter-finals. Although Nutcharut took a 3–0 lead, Ng came back to force a , but Nutcharut won the match 4–3 on the final black. She defeated Rebecca Kenna 5–1 in the semi-finals before facing
Wendy Jans Wendy Jans (born 14 June 1983, in Bree, Belgium) is a Belgian professional snooker and pool player. She has won the IBSF World Snooker Championship for women nine times. She reached her first women's world final at the 2022 World Women's Snooke ...
in the final. Although Nutcharut took a 2–1 lead, Jans won four of the next five to lead 5–3. Nutcharut then won the next two to force a deciding frame, in which the title was determined on the final black ball. Jans missed the black into the yellow pocket, leaving it over the middle, allowing Nutcharut to clinch her first women's world title. Nutcharut's victory gave her a two-year professional tour card, allowing her to join Evans and Ng on the main World Snooker Tour the following season. Evans commented that she was not surprised that Nutcharut had won the tournament, commenting that "She's got a good game, a never say die attitude. She has a bright future ahead of her". In the wake of her victory, Nutcharut was invited to meet Prime Minister
Prayut Chan-o-cha Prayut Chan-o-cha (sometimes spelled Prayuth Chan-ocha; , ; born 21 March 1954) is a former Thai politician, army officer and dictator who became the 29th prime minister of Thailand after seizing power in the 2014 Thai coup d'état, 2014 coup ...
, who told her that "You created a good story for Thais during this difficult time." Her next ranking title win was the 2022 Women's Masters, which saw her overcome Ng 4–0. At the following ranking event, she defeated Jans 4–1 to take the 2023 Belgian Women's Open title. In 2023–24, Nutcharut won two of the season's eight ranking tournaments, and was runner-up at three other ranking tournaments. She defeated Ng 42 in the final of the US Open, after which she regained top place in the rankings. Later in the season, she defeated the same opponent by the same score to claim the Belgian Open, for her first successful defence of a ranking title and her seventh ranking title overall. She lost 34 to Ng in the final of the Albanian Open, after having recovered from 03 to 33.
Bai Yulu Bai Yulu (; born 10 July 2003) is a Chinese professional snooker player who competes both on the women's tour and the main World Snooker Tour. A former world junior champion, she is the reigning women's world champion, having won the 2024 and ...
defeated Nutcharut 65 in the final of the
2024 World Women's Snooker Championship The 2024 World Women's Snooker Championship was a women's snooker tournament that took place from 11 to 17 March 2024 at the Changping Gymnasium in Dongguan, China. Organised by World Women's Snooker, the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Associatio ...
, winning the deciding frame on the last . Nutcharut had not lost a frame in that year's tournament before the final. In the fourth final of the season in which she faced Ng, the British Open, Nutcharut lost 14. Nutcharut finished the season in top place in the rankings. Having held the number one ranking in World Women's Snooker from February to May 2023, Nutcharut was replaced by Evans before regaining the top position in August of that year, and retained it as of June 2025. She won the 2024 Australian Women's Open on the final black ball of the deciding frame against Ng. In October 2024 she became a Commander (Third Class) of the
Order of the Direkgunabhorn The Most Admirable Order of the Direkgunabhorn (; ) was established by King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) on 22 July 1991 (B.E. 2534) to be bestowed upon those who have rendered devotional services to the Kingdom of Thailand. The title ''Direkgu ...
.


World Snooker Tour

Nutcharut entered Q School, a qualifying competition for the main
World Snooker Tour The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of about 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. It is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial arm of professional snooker, ...
, several times. At a 2022 event, she defeated five male players including two former professionals. At the first ranking event of the
2022–23 snooker season The 2022–23 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played from June 2022 to May 2023. Players The World Snooker Tour in the 2022–23 season initially consisted of a field of 131 professional players, but later dropped to 130 w ...
, the
2022 Championship League (ranking) The 2022 Championship League was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place from 28 June to 29 July 2022 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England. The event featured 128 players and was played as three rounds of Round-robin to ...
, Nutcharut was drawn in Group 32 alongside
Xiao Guodong Xiao Guodong (; born 10 February 1989) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He turned professional in 2007 after winning the Asian Under-21 Championships. He won his first ranking event 17 years after first turning professional at the 202 ...
,
Scott Donaldson Scott Donaldson (born 19 March 1994) is a Scottish professional snooker player. Donaldson turned professional in 2012 after winning the 2012 EBSA European Snooker Championship and gained a two-year tour card for the 2012–13 and 2013–14 ...
and
Rod Lawler Rod Lawler (born 12 July 1971) is an English retired professional snooker player. He is noted for his slow playing style which gave rise to his nickname, "Rod the Plod". After turning professional in 1990, Lawler has reached one ranking tourna ...
. The tournament director
Paul Collier Sir Paul Collier, (born 23 April 1949) is a British development economist who serves as the Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford and co-director of the International Gro ...
agreed to her request to be called Mink Nutcharut. The players faced each other in a round-robin of four-frame matches. She won the first frame against Xiao, but lost 1–3. From 2–1 against Donaldson, the match ended in a 2–2 draw after he made a 52 to win the frame on the final . With a 1–3 loss to Lawler, her results meant that she finished fourth in the group, but journalist David Hendon wrote that "over the course of the day the potential of the 22-year-old from Thailand was clear." She was eliminated in her first match in the next two ranking tournament qualifying competitions: 1–5 by
Mitchell Mann Mitchell Dennis Mann (born 26 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player. Career Junior Mann first played snooker aged 9, after being forced to quit football after a diagnosis of Legg–Calvé–Perthes syndrome, a rare disease ...
at the 2022 European Masters and 2–4 by
Chen Zifan Chen Zifan (; born 17 September 1995) is a Chinese professional snooker player who, in 2023, received a five-year ban from professional competition after committing match-fixing offences. In December 2022, Chen was suspended from the professio ...
at the tour's
2022 British Open The 2022 British Open (officially the 2022 Cazoo British Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 26 September to 2 October 2022 at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, England. The third ranking tournament of the 2022 ...
. Nutcharut's first win as a professional was a 4–2 defeat of Mann, who was ranked 71st, during the qualifying competition for the season's fourth ranking event, the
2022 Northern Ireland Open The 2022 Northern Ireland Open (officially the 2022 BetVictor Northern Ireland Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 16 to 23 October 2022 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Organised by the World Sn ...
. She did not win any other singles matches on the main tour in her debut season. At the 2022 World Mixed Doubles championship, the first staging of the tournament since 1991, Nutcharut and
Neil Robertson Neil Alexander Robertson (born 11 February 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player, who is a former List of World Snooker Championship winners, world champion and former List of world number one snooker players, world number one. He ...
defeated Kenna and
Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player. Ranked List of world number one snooker players, world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 24 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the all ...
4–2 in the final. They both received £30,000 for winning the title, the biggest prize of her career to date. In the
2023 World Snooker Championship The 2023 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2023 Cazoo World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 15 April to 1 May 2023 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 47th con ...
qualifying competition, she lost 7–10 to
Dechawat Poomjaeng Dechawat Poomjaeng ( ''Dechāwạt Phùmcæ̂ng'', born July 11, 1978) is a Thai former professional snooker player. Career Early career He won the 2010 IBSF World Snooker Championship in Damascus, Syria, defeating India's Pankaj Advani 10– ...
, but made her first
century break In snooker, a century break (also century, sometimes called a ton) is a of 100 points or more, compiled in one to the table. A century break requires potting at least 25 consecutive balls, and the ability to score centuries is regarded as a m ...
in professional competition, becoming the first woman since
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 ...
in
2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
to make a century in a World Championship match. In the
2023–24 snooker season The 2023–24 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played from 26 June 2023 to 26 May 2024. Players The World Snooker Tour in the 2023–24 season initially involved 130 professional players, but dropped to 129 players. The de ...
, she drew two of her three
2023 Championship League (ranking) The 2023 Championship League was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place from 26 June to 21 July 2023 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England. The event featured 128 players and was played as three rounds of Round-robin to ...
matches but did not progress. Her only main tour win of the season was in the
2023 UK Championship The 2023 UK Championship (officially the 2023 MrQ UK Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 25November to 3December 2023 at the York Barbican in York, England. The 47th edition of the UK Championship, first he ...
qualifying, when she defeated
Adam Duffy Adam Duffy (born 30 March 1989) is an English former professional snooker player. Duffy qualified for the 2011–12 professional Main Tour as one of four semi-finalists from the third and final 2011 Q School event. Career Debut season As a n ...
63, but then lost to Michael White in a deciding frame in the second round. In the qualifying event for the
2024 World Snooker Championship The 2024 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 April to 6 May 2024. Organised by the World Snooker Tour, it was the 17th and final ranking event of the 202324 season. The title spon ...
, she was level with Duffy at 44, but Duffy went on to win 105. As the top-ranked player in World Women's snooker at the end of 2023–24, Nutcharut gained a new tour card for the two years starting with the
2024–25 snooker season The 2024–25 snooker season was a professional snooker season featuring tournaments played between June 2024 and May 2025, including the professional World Snooker Tour, the second-tier Q Tour and featured events from World Women's Snooker an ...
. On 12 September 2024, she defeated Evans 4–2 in the first round at the
English Open The English Open was a professional golf tournament held in England. First played in 1988, it was an annual event on the European Tour until 2002. After several aborted attempts at reviving the tournament, it returned to the tour schedule in 20 ...
in the first match between two female players on the professional World Snooker Tour. In a July 2024 interview, Nutcharut commented that women were able to compete with men at snooker as it is not a contact sport and added, "Sure, there are some elements of strength involved – such as the force behind a strike – but I think that with practice, it's very possible for women to dominate over men in snooker, and that's exciting!"


Performance and rankings timeline


World Snooker Tour


Notes


World Women's Snooker


Career finals


Women's finals


Team finals


Notes


References


External links

* *
Mink Nutcharut
at WPBSA Snooker Scores {{DEFAULTSORT:Wongharuthai, Nutcharut
Mink Nutcharut Nutcharut Wongharuthai (, ; born 7 November 1999), better known as Mink Nutcharut, is a Thai snooker player who competes on both the professional World Snooker Tour and the World Women's Snooker Tour. She is the only woman known to have made a ...
Female snooker players 1999 births Living people
Mink Nutcharut Nutcharut Wongharuthai (, ; born 7 November 1999), better known as Mink Nutcharut, is a Thai snooker player who competes on both the professional World Snooker Tour and the World Women's Snooker Tour. She is the only woman known to have made a ...
Mink Nutcharut Nutcharut Wongharuthai (, ; born 7 November 1999), better known as Mink Nutcharut, is a Thai snooker player who competes on both the professional World Snooker Tour and the World Women's Snooker Tour. She is the only woman known to have made a ...