He’s known as many things - speed king; the guy who missed the 147 black (twice); and Thailand’s most exciting player since James Wattana. However, most recently this professional will be referred to as ‘Ranking Event Winner and Shootout King’, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. Let’s shine the spotlight over one of the fastest players on the snooker circuit today.
Snooker was initially just a pastime activity for Un-Nooh that he would partake with his older brothers in the early 2000s at their local club in Nakhon Nayok. There were no professional aspirations geared towards snooker despite the possession of raw talent at such a young age. His plans in life were to actually land a government job working as an electrician. I think he found himself a better calling.
Un-Nooh was selected to represent his province in the National Students Championship in 2002. This was his first official competition which he managed to win and also acted as the catalyst to encourage Un-Nooh to pursue snooker further. Un-Nooh competed in U18 and U20 competitions but unfortunately, lost out in the finals on both occasions in 2002 and 2003.
These losses, among other factors spurred Un-Nooh to focus on a successful career in snooker. In 2008, he became the World Amateur Champion which enabled him to compete on the main tour in 2009/10. Un-Nooh’s stay was short-lived as he was unable to keep his place on the tour. Although, thanks to nomination, Un-Nooh was able to regain a place on the main tour which could be considered the point where his career took off, as we know it.
It wasn’t the easiest start for Un-Nooh due to having to win multiple qualifying matches just to reach the main stage of ranking events. Although, he started to break through and reach more of these ranking events from 2013/14. Un-Nooh’s first big win came in 2015 as he won the 6-Reds Championship, beating the likes of Wenbo, Trump and (then champion) Bingham along the way. It wouldn’t be until 2019 for Un-Nooh to add to his professional victories which would include the Shootout and Haining Open.
Un-Nooh’s ranking position has slowly risen over the years to its current highest position of No. 20. This has been aided by an improvement in tournament success via reaching latter stages, including his valiant final against an in-form Trump earlier this season. I do sometimes wonder how someone like Bingtao is able to achieve Top 16 status before Un-Nooh, given the years of experience he has over his younger foe but it comes down to tournament success; something that Bingtao has more of, particularly recently as Bingtao has reached more semis and finals. However, given the current standings, a deep tournament run or victory will propel Un-Nooh into the Top 16.
When it relates to the World Championship, Un-Nooh has successfully qualified for the past two seasons but unfortunately fell at the first round to his opponents. Last season saw him come dangerously close to eliminating Trump in a 10-9 decider which allowed Trump to continue to win at Sheffield. Whenever the WSC takes place, Un-Nooh will be sure to have his sights set high.
For a significant portion of the current 2019/20 season, Un-Nooh held the mantle being the fastest player, based on Average Shot Time (AST) statistics. This is now held by O’Sullivan, with a 0.05s quicker time over his only rival in this category (at the time). Un-Nooh’s fast playstyle is matched by his ability to sink some exemplary pots. Seriously, watch his 2015 UK Championship 147 attempt.
Un-Nooh’s game is heading in the right direction as evident by his ranking progression and recent wins. If he continues with this belief and confidence of being a ranking event winner, the floodgates may just open.
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