Noppon Saengkham

Noppon Saengkham (Thai: นพพล แสงคำ; born 15 July 1992) is a Thai professional snooker player.

Noppon Saengkham
Saengkham at the 2015 Paul Hunter Classic
Born (1992-07-15) 15 July 1992
Samut Prakan Province, Thailand
Sport country Thailand
Professional2010/2011, 2013–
Highest ranking28 (March 2019)
Current ranking 42 (as of 8 February 2021)
Career winnings£291,608
Highest break147:
2019 Welsh Open
Century breaks81
Best ranking finishSemi-finals (2018 Welsh Open, 2018 World Open)

Career

Early years

In April 2009, Saengkham lost in the final of the ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship 1–5 to Zhang Anda.[1] He went one better at the 2009 IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship by claiming the title with a 9–8 win over Soheil Vahedi in the final. It also secured his place on the main snooker tour for the 2010/2011 season.[2]

Professional debut

He lost his first three matches as a professional, only picking up one frame in the process before beating Luca Brecel 3–1 in qualifying for the 2010 World Open.[3] He lost to Martin Gould 0–3 in the next round and could only win one more match in the next six months.[3] The closest he came to qualifying for a ranking event came at the Welsh Open where he beat Matthew Couch 4–2 and Adrian Gunnell 4–0, but then lost 1–4 to Nigel Bond.[4] Saengkham ended his first season ranked world number 92 which relegated him from the tour.[5]

Saengkham did not play a match in a professional snooker event during the 2011/2012 season.[6] In the 2012/2013 season he came through Group G of the 2012 Six-red World Championship, but then lost 5–6 to Graeme Dott in the last 32.[7] He was awarded a wildcard for the 2013 World Open and lost 4–5 to Mark Joyce.[7] In April he won the ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship by defeating Pakistan's Mohammad Majid Ali 6–5 on the final pink. The title earned him a place back on the snooker tour for the 2013/2014 season.[8]

2013/2014 season

In qualifying for the 2013 Australian Goldfields Open, Saengkham beat Andrew Pagett 5–3 and Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon, Anthony McGill and Jamie Jones all by 5–1 scorelines to reach the main draw of a ranking event for the first time in his career. He played Stuart Bingham in the first round and lost 5–1.[9] He also won through to the last 32 stage of the UK Championship with victories over Tom Ford and Sean O'Sullivan, before being beaten 6–2 by Shaun Murphy.[10] Saengkham made it to the second round of the Welsh Open and World Open, but lost to multiple ranking event winners in Mark Allen and Mark Selby respectively.[9] Saengkham's season ended when he was edged out 10–9 by Vinnie Calabrese in the first round of World Championship qualifying.[9] He finished the season ranked world number 84.[11]

2014/2015 season

Saengkham defeated Alfie Burden 6–4 to qualify for the International Championship and beat Stephen Maguire 6–5, before losing in another deciding frame in the second round to Xiao Guodong. He was knocked out in the first round of the UK Championship 6–1 by Luca Brecel.[12] Saengkham eliminated David Grace, Mitchell Mann, Ross Muir and Kurt Maflin at the Lisbon Open to reach his first quarter-final in a ranking event, where he lost 4–2 to Maguire.[13] He was unable to build on this during the rest of the season as he lost eight of his last nine matches with his only win coming against German amateur Lukas Kleckers in the first round of World Championship qualifying.[12] Saengkham finished the year outside of the top 64 in the world rankings (he was 71st), but his good play in the European Tour events saw him placed 43rd on the Order of Merit to earn a new two-year tour card.[14][15]

2015/2016 season

In his homeland, Saengkham beat the likes of reigning world champion Stuart Bingham and ranking event winners Michael White and Joe Perry to play in the semi-finals of the 2015 Six-red World Championship, where he lost 7–3 to compatriot Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.[16] A 6–2 win over Stephen Maguire saw him qualify for the International Championship for the second year in a row, but he was knocked out 6–4 by Oliver Lines in the opening round.[17] He lost 6–5 and 4–3 in the first rounds of both the UK Championship and Welsh Open to Xiao Guodong and Fergal O'Brien respectively. Saengkham won a deciding frame against Lines to qualify for the China Open.[17] He shocked Neil Robertson 5–3 in the first round and then beat Ben Woollaston 5–4 and Graeme Dott 5–1 to make the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time.[18] A bad start from Saengkham saw him lose the opening four frames to John Higgins, but he then pulled it back to 4–3. Saengkham missed a yellow in the next frame and would be defeated 5–3.[19] His final match of the season was a 10–8 loss to Dott in the second round of World Championship qualifying.[17]

2016/2017 season

Saengkham had to wait until October to win his first match of the season in the main draw of a ranking event when he beat Michael Georgiou 4–1 at the English Open. He lost 4–0 to Xiao Guodong in the second round. A 6–0 thrashing of Ken Doherty saw him reach the second round of the UK Championship, where he made a 131 break to lead John Higgins 3–2, before going on to be defeated 6–4.[20] He reached the last 32 of the Scottish Open by beating Craig Steadman and Aditya Mehta, but he was whitewashed 4–0 by Judd Trump. Saengkham defeated Tom Ford 5–3 to qualify for the China Open. A 5–3 victory against Robert Milkins followed and he then lost 5–2 to Stuart Bingham.[21] After Saengkham overcame Jak Jones 10–5 and Anthony Hamilton 10–9 he was one win away from qualifying for the World Championship. He overturned a 6–3 deficit against Lee Walker to win 10–8 and met Neil Robertson in the first round.[22] Saengkham lost the opening session 8–1 and, though he won three of the next four frames, he was defeated 10–4.[23] The run meant he finished the season 64th in the world rankings.[24]

Performance and rankings timeline
Tournament 2010/
11		 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17		 2017/
18		 2018/
19		 2019/
20		 2020/
21
Ranking[25][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 3] [nb 2] 84 [nb 4] 69 64 52 38 32
Ranking tournaments
European Masters Tournament Not Held LQ 1R LQ LQ 1R
English Open Tournament Not Held 2R 1R QF 1R 1R
Championship League Non-Ranking Event RR
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 1R 3R 1R 1R 4R
UK Championship LQ A 3R 1R 1R 2R 3R 3R 3R 2R
Scottish Open NH MR Not Held 3R 3R 1R 1R 3R
World Grand Prix Not Held NR DNQ DNQ DNQ 2R DNQ DNQ
German Masters LQ A 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R
Shoot-Out Non-Ranking Event 2R 2R 1R 1R 4R
Welsh Open LQ A 2R 1R 1R 1R SF 3R 3R
Players Championship[nb 5] DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR 2R 3R 2R WD
WST Pro Series Tournament Not Held
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ
World Championship LQ A LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ 2R
Non-ranking tournaments
Championship League A A A A A A A RR A A
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship 2R 1R QF 2R SF 2R 1R RR RR
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic NR A LQ WD Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open NH A 1R WD A Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters LQ A LQ LQ A LQ LQ Non-Rank. NH
Paul Hunter Classic Minor-Ranking Event WD 2R 3R NR NH
Indian Open Not Held 1R LQ NH LQ LQ LQ Not Held
China Open LQ A LQ LQ QF 2R 1R LQ Not Held
Riga Masters[nb 6] Not Held MR 1R 2R LQ LQ NH
International Championship NH A LQ 2R 1R LQ LQ 1R LQ NH
China Championship Tournament Not Held NR 1R 2R 2R NH
World Open LQ WR 2R Not Held LQ 1R SF 2R NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Shoot-Out A A A 1R A Ranking Event
Haining Open Not Held MR 4R A A A NH
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)		 QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Heldmeans an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  3. He was an amateur.
  4. Players qualified through European Tour Order of Merit started the season without prize money ranking points.
  5. The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)
  6. The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)

Tournament wins

Amateur

References
  1. "10th Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship 2009". Cue Sports India. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  2. "World Under 21 Snooker Championship 2009". International Billiards and Snooker Federation. Archived from the original on 19 June 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  3. "Noppon Saengkham 2010/2011". Snooker.org. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  4. "Wyldecrest Park Homes Welsh Open Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  5. "Rankings after 2011 World Championship" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  6. "Noppon Saengkham 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  7. "Noppon Saengham 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  8. "Saengkham beats Majid to scoop Asian U-21 snooker title". Dawn. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  9. "Noppon Saengham 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  10. "UK Snooker Championship 2013 results". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  11. "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  12. "Noppon Saengkham 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  13. "Maguire Wins Lisbon Open". World Snooker. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  14. "European Order of Merit 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  15. "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  16. "Un-Nooh to Face Liang in Final". World Snooker. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  17. "Noppon Saengkham 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  18. "China Open: Stuart Bingham and Ricky Walden meet in last eight". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  19. "John Higgins survives Noppon Saengkham scare as Ricky Walden breezes past Stuart Bingham at the China Open". Live Snooker. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  20. "UK Championship 2016: Stuart Bingham beaten by world number 62 Yu Delu". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  21. "Noppon Saengkham 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  22. "O'Brien Wins Record Two-Hour Frame". World Snooker. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  23. "World Championship 2017: Neil Robertson beats Noppon Saengkham in first round". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  24. "Rankings 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  25. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  26. World Snooker: Saengkham Takes IBSF Title
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