Pan Xiaoting
Name | Date of Birth | Country |
---|---|---|
Pan Xiaoting | 25-02-1982 | China |
Pan Xiaoting (born 25 February 1982 in Yanzhou District, Jining, Shandong; sometimes referred to in the Western media as Xiaoting Pan and nicknamed "Queen of Nine-Ball") is the first-ever female professional pool player from China to play full-time on the Women's Professional Billiard Association (WPBA) tour. Pan's beauty and growing achievements in billiards have made her one of the most famous female athletes in her country.
Pan was named WPBA Rookie of the Year in 2006 and finished the season ranked #13. Pan won her first WPBA tournament at the 2007 Great Lakes Classic. Later she won the 2007 WPA World Nine-ball Championship held in Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Pan is a friendly rival of fellow Asian WPBA player Kim Ga-young; the two met in the finals of the 2007 Carolina Women's Billiard Classic, with Kim prevailing 7 to 6 in the WPBA's first all-Asian championship match. Kim and Pan finished the 2007 WPBA season ranked #2 and #3, respectively, behind perennially top-ranked Allison Fisher. Pan is also a good friend of Chinese snooker player Ding Junhui. In 2008, Pan won the BCA GenerationPool.com title on the WPBA tour, and in 2010 added a WPBA major to her resume at the Tour Championships. She went undefeated in Niagara Falls that year defeating Kim Ga-young of South Korea in the semi-finals 7-6, andKaren Corr of Northern Ireland 7-4 in the final.
In December 2013, Xiaoting participated in an exhibition match against snooker ace Ronnie O'Sullivan in Yanzhou.