"Tong" rolls back the years in classic victory at Six Red Snooker World Championships 2023 in Pathum Thani

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James Wattana or Tong Sitchoi

 

By Gerry Carter

 

He is a man who goes by many names in Thailand and around the world. Most of those in the snooker world know him as James Wattana. He was once known as Wattana Phu-ob-orm.

 

But most Thais know him affectionately as just Tong.

 

Yesterday in the early afternoon session of the Six Red Snooker World Championships in Pathum Thani he played Jimmy Robertson of England and there was a lot at stake. Defeat for Tong would have meant he would have had to have beaten the world's best in Ronnie O'Sullivan in the evening to have a chance of making the knockout stages.

 

The game went to a deciding frame at 4-4 as the crowds arriving for the late afternoon session were held up.

 

The referee asked if both players were prepared to go on as the TV announcer yelled his introductions the other side of the divide.

 

Amid the chaos they decided to play on as the game approached two and a half hours. In the end after more twists than seemed possible it was Tong who prevailed by clearing up in style from yellow to black rolling in the final ball along the cushion to a tumultuous cheer that must have been one of the loudest of his stellar career.

 

The four table arena at the Thammasat University Convention Centre in Pathum Thani

 

Tong featured in his first ranking final against Stephen Hendry back at Channel Nine in Bangkok in 1990. I was there in the front row sitting next to commentator Ted Lowe's wife. That dates both of us!

 

In the 1990s he was ranked as high as #3 in the world and won several ranking titles. Now 53, he showed yesterday the love that the Thai people, and foreigners, have for him as he rolled back the years.

 

He will feature in today's round of 16 along with some of the best players in the world including O'Sullivan, Judd Trump and John Higgins all world 15 red champions and legends of the sport.

 

Today's (Thursday's) last 16 knockout round at the Thammasat University Convention Centre begins at 11 am. The second session is at 2.00pm followed by the quarterfinals at 6.30pm.

 

Friday's semis are at 3pm and 6.30pm while the final on Saturday starts at 3pm.

 

Rooster

 

 

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