Kunihiko Takahashi

Kunihiko Takahashi
nation	Japan
birthday	4th March 1969
place of birth	Nagasaki Prefecture
Nickname	The sniper
Career
professional	1996–
Medal table
Asian Games 0 × 1 × 2 × 9-ball World Cup 1 × 0 × 0 ×

Kunihiko Takahashi ( Japanese 高橋 邦彦 , Takahashi Kunihiko ; born March 4, 1969 in Nagasaki Prefecture ) is a Japanese pool player . He became world champion in the 9-ball discipline in 1998 .

Career

Takahashi started playing pool at the age of 17 . Reached ninth place at the 1995 US Open a year before he turned pro. After finishing ninth in 1997, he was fourth in 1998. At the 9-Ball World Cup in 1998 , he became the second Japanese after Takeshi Okumura ( 1994 ) to become world champion by beating defending champion Johnny Archer in the final . At the Asian Games in 1998 he won the silver medal in the 9-ball singles after a final defeat against Yang Ching-shun . In 8-ball he won bronze in singles and, together with Satoshi Kawabata , in doubles. At the World Pool Masters 1999 , Takahashi came third, as was the case at the International Challenge of Champions 1999. At the US Open, he finished 25th.

At the Japan Open in March 2000 Takahashi was third, at the 9-Ball World Cup and the 2000 World Pool Masters ninth. At the US Open 2000 he finished 49th. In 2001 he was eliminated in the preliminary round of the 9-ball World Cup , and in 2002 in the quarter-finals. At the 9-Ball World Championships in 2003 and 2005 , Takahashi was eliminated in the round of 32, and in 2004 in the preliminary round. At the BCA Open 2005 he was thirteenth. In 2006 he was eliminated again in the preliminary round of the 9-Ball World Cup . At the Japan Open 2008 he finished 17th. In 2011 he finished 17th in the World 14.1 Tournament . At the Japan Open 2013 and 2014 he reached the round of 64.

Web links

• Kunihiko Takahashi on azbilliards.com
• Kunihiko Takahashi on kozoom.com
• Kunihiko Takahashi on the European Pocket Billiard Federation website