James Wattana

James Wattana

Wattana at the 2013 German Masters
Born	(1970-01-17) January 17, 1970 (age 54) Bangkok, Thailand
Sport country	Thailand
Nickname	The Thai-phoon[1]
Professional	1989–2008, 2009–2020
Highest ranking	3 (1994/95)
Maximum breaks	3
Century breaks	166
Tournament wins
Ranking	3
Medal record Men's Snooker Asian Games 1998 Bangkok Team 2010 Guangzhou Team Asian Indoor Games 2007 Macau Individual Southeast Asian Games 2021 Hanoi Individual 2023 Phnom Penh Snooker 6-Red Doubles

James Wattana (Thai: เจมส์ วัฒนา; born January 17, 1970, as วัฒนา ภู่โอบอ้อม Wattana Pu-Ob-Orm, then renamed รัชพล ภู่โอบอ้อม Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm in 2003) is a Thai former professional snooker player.

A professional between 1989 and 2008, and from 2009 to 2020, Wattana reached his highest ranking position – world number 3 – for the 1994–95 season. He has won three ranking tournaments, the 1992 Strachan Open and the Thailand Open in 1994 and 1995, and has finished as the runner-up in a further five ranking events. He twice reached the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship, in 1993 and 1997. When he was defeated in the semi-finals in 1993 by Jimmy White, it was only Wattana's second appearance in the final televised stages at the Crucible Theatre, his first being the previous year when he lost in the second round to the eventual winner Stephen Hendry.

Having received two year invitational tour cards in 2014, 2016 and 2018, Wattana fell off the main tour at the end of the 2019/2020 season.

Back in Thailand, Wattana is known as "Tong Sit Choi" (Thai: ต๋อง ศิษย์ฉ่อย, roughly "Tong, Disciple of Choi") a nickname which he got by winning a local youth tournament at the age of 14. "Choi" is from "Choi Susas" (Thai: ฉ่อย ซู่ซ่าส์), the nickname of Wattana's father and mentor Kowin Pu-Ob-Orm.