Born | Mammendorf, Bavaria, East Germany | 1 January 1982
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Sport country | Germany |
Professional | 2013–present |
Maike Kesseler (born 1 January 1982) is a German snooker referee from Mammendorf near Munich in Bavaria.[1]
Kesseler began her association with snooker in 2005 mainly due to her interest in the sport in Eurosport broadcasts. After an uneventful debut as an amateur player, she opted to become a referee and two years later she passed her referee examination. At first active in Germany in amateur snooker, she refereed the professional 2010 Paul Hunter Classic.[2] Alongside Marcel Eckardt, she was one of the referees who were discovered and promoted by World Snooker and she received invitations to referee at other major professional tournaments.[3] In 2013 she refereed for the first time followed by the 2014, 2015 and 2016 German Masters (her first world ranking final).[4] She also refereed several times at tournaments in the UK. In 2017 she refereed at the 2017 World Cup in Wuxi, China, and the 2017 World Snooker Championship for the first time during the first round finals at the Crucible Theatre where Yan Bingtao faced former world champion Shaun Murphy who won 10–8.[5]
Kesseler referees as a hobby,[5] and works full-time as a customer advisor for a bank.[6] Her husband Jürgen Kesseler is a snooker tournament organiser and former German Bundesliga (snooker) player.[7][8] [9]