There were several billiards players to watch out for in 1990, and some of them stood out above all the rest. These are our top five picks from the year.
Masakao Katsura
Masako Katsura, born March 7, 1913 in Tokyo, Japan, was a woman who made an outstanding impact on the culture of billiards. She grew up as a girl in a family that owned a billiards hall in Tokyo. When she was 14, her mother urged her to take up billiards as a career.
Katsura became the first woman to compete in an international billiards tournament. She competed in the Women’s Three Cushion Billiards Championship in 1953. After her success, the Women’s Professional Billiard Association was formed.
Masako Katsura was one of the greatest billiards players of all time. Her career soared in the 1950s, and she was able to compete with males across the globe.
When Katsura was young, she had a talent for trick shots. She won the Japanese Women’s Straight-Rail Billiards Championship when she was fifteen. In 1954, she competed in the World Three Cushion Billiards Championship in Buenos Aires.
Kelly Fisher
Kelly Fisher has been one of the most successful pool players of all time. She racked up two world titles and dozens of professional tournament wins during her career. Now, at the age of 34, she has been elected into the BCA Hall of Fame.
She first earned a top ten ranking in the World Ladies Pool rankings in 2008. She is also the only female player to win the US Open and the WPA Women’s World 9-Ball Championship.
It took Fisher a while to make her mark, but she eventually did. From a small Yorkshire town she developed a knack for cue sports, and her career has continued to flourish.
Her first big win was at the Connie Gough Memorial Championship. At the age of 14 she was awarded her first full-ranking title, and by the age of 16 she was a world champion. During the next four years she won 10 top ranking titles, including a hattrick of world titles in the World Ladies Pool championships.
Johnny Archer
If you are a fan of pool, you will no doubt have heard of Johnny Archer. He’s a professional pool player, and he is the best in the world at the game. In fact, he’s one of the most successful nine-ball players of all time.
He started playing the game at age 11, and he quickly went pro. It took him just a few years to win his first national title.
One of his proudest moments was winning the World Individual 9-Ball Championships in 1992. The tournament was held in Taiwan. His victory earned him US$8,000.
He then won the WPA World Nine-Ball Championship two years later in 1997. In 2003, he won the Sudden Death Seven-Ball, a tournament he also won in 2006.
He’s won a number of other championships over the years, including the Texas Hold ‘Em Billiards Championship and the International Challenge of Champions.
Allison Fisher
Allison Fisher is one of the most famous pool players of the 1990s. She has achieved success in pool, snooker, and 9-ball.
Fisher began her career in Britain. She started playing snooker at the age of seven. Then, she moved to Canada. At thirteen, she began competing on the women’s circuit.
By the age of twenty, she became a professional. She would go on to win over 30 titles on the national and international level. During the early ’90s, she topped the women’s professional pool ranks.
Allison also participated in a number of other sports. Her snooker league team was invited to participate in the Matchroom tournament.
She became the first female player to successfully defend a title. After a four-hour epic match, Hillyard finally lost the title to Fisher.
Mike Sigel
A very talented American pool player, Mike Sigel has won over 102 major tournaments in his career. He is also called “Captain Hook”.
The professional billiards player began his career at the age of 16. It wasn’t until he turned 16 that he decided to leave school and pursue a professional pool career. After a few years, he became one of the best players in the world.
In 1992, he won the Champion of Champions title. That year, he defeated Buddy Hall in a tie-breaker. The two were tied at 50 percent in the second set, but he managed to win the last game. This was a very dramatic victory for both of them.
Throughout his career, Sigel has won five world championship titles, three US Open Nine-Ball Championships and the Billiard Congress of America’s Hall of Fame. His greatest accomplishment was winning the Lake Tahoe Billiards Classic in ’83.
