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One of the most celebrated overseas players in the modern history of professional snooker is set to pursue a career in politics, according to media reports in Thailand.
Former world No. 3 James Wattana is set to swap potting for politics by running for public office as an MP in his country’s forthcoming general election, which is due to be held on February 8.
Wattana, now 55, famously won the Thailand Open in 1994 and 1995 in Bangkok after turning professional in 1989, and twice reached the semi-finals of the World Championship in Sheffield in 1993 and 1997.
He defeated Steve Davis 9-7 to thrill a national TV audience of millions with his maiden ranking title victory on home soil before emulating the feat with a 9-6 win over Ronnie O’Sullivan 30 years ago.
O’Sullivan praised Wattana’s role in the development of the game in Thailand during their most recent meeting, a 5-2 win for the seven-time world champion, at the Six-red World Championship in 2023.
“I played James out here in his peak,” said O’Sullivan, who lost 6-5 to Wattana in his first year as a professional in the semi-finals of the Humo Masters in Belgium.
“I played him in a match, and we had to stop for the adverts, and he was on every advert – Nescafe, Thai Airways – and I was sitting there thinking, ‘this geezer is unbelievable’.
“I’ve never ever hung out with anyone so famous. When he was in his prime, he couldn’t go anywhere and needed a security police escort to go everywhere.
“He’s been massive for Thai snooker. Thailand snooker is very strong. They’ve got some fantastic players and that is because of James and what he has done in the game.”
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Wattana also won the World Matchplay in 1992 with a 9-4 win over Davis in a career that saw him make three maximums – his first in 1991 was the first of the 1990s – and earned over £1 million in prize money before dropping off the main circuit in 2020.
His second 147 achieved at the 1992 British Open in seven minutes and nine seconds was the fastest in history until O’Sullivan produced his iconic maximum at the 1997 World Championship in only five minutes and eight seconds.
His pioneering success in the game has inspired a number of players from Asia, including Ding Junhui and Marco Fu, with Thailand strongly represented on the main circuit by Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Noppon Saengkham and former women’s world champion Mink Nutcharut.
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