Michael Kang

Michael Kang


Personal details
birthday	1949
place of birth	Korea South
nationality	United States
Achievements Unless otherwise stated, the information relates to the “three cushion” discipline.
Best ED: 2.727
World Cup, Las Vegas
Maximum series (HS): 15 (19)
official (unofficial)

Michael Kang (* 1949 in South Korea ) is an American carom player of South Korean origin, co-founder of the Carom Café and organizer of the Verhoeven Open .

Career

Kang was born in South Korea and his father worked for the government there. On August 28, 1973, he moved to the USA, Anglicized his name and became a US citizen. He has a brother and a sister who also live in the United States. Kang settled in New York City, where he still lives.

At the age of about eleven he started playing billiards on a small table. When he came to the USA he wanted to develop himself further and took part in tournaments as often as possible. His discipline is three cushion. By 2011 he took part in over 50 international tournaments, including four times in the three-cushion world championship , four times in the Pan American championship, 15 times in the three-cushion world cup and 12 times in the Sang Lee Open / Verhoeven Open. As it is often difficult to make a living from billiards, he is the full-time operator of billiard salons in which national (such as the US three-cushion championship in 2009 and 2015) and international tournaments are held

In 1986 he opened his first billiard parlor in Amherst , Massachusetts, which was closed by its next owner in July 2018. In 1988 he met the world-class player and world champion Sang Chun Lee , who had also emigrated . Both became friends and came up with the idea of a salon in New York. Then in 2000 they founded the Carom Café . After Lee died unexpectedly in 2004, he and his widow had the idea of a memorial tournament. In 2005 the first Sang Lee International Open was launched. Participants included Mr. 100 Raymond Ceulemans , Lee's toughest opponent in the 1980s, as well as Torbjörn Blomdahl , Semih Saygıner and Dick Jaspers . Due to the popularity of the tournament, additional tournaments were played annually until 2008. There were financial problems and so it was suspended until 2012, then relaunched under a new name, Verhoeven Open and has been held annually since then. From 2013 Lee also organized his own women's tournament every two years, which initially operated under the same name, but was renamed the Jennifer Shim Open in 2015 in honor of the US player who was killed .

His most important victories were the Doral Open 2007 in Miami and the Sang Lee in 1994, at the US championships he was twice runner-up (1997, 2000).

Private

He has been married to his wife Jung-Rim since 1987. They have two sons and a daughter together.

successes

American Three Cushion Championship : 1997, 2000 2005
Sang Lee Tournament: 1994
Doral Open: 2007

Swell:

Web links

Commons : Michael Kang - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Frits Bakker: Michael Kang, the Carom Cafe and the memory of Sang Lee. Kozoom , July 21, 2011, accessed July 31, 2018 .
^ Scott Merzbach: Michael's Billiards in Amherst ends 25-year run. Daily Hampshire Gazette, July 16, 2018, archived from the original July 31, 2018 ; accessed on July 31, 2018 (English).

personal data
SURNAME	Kang, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American carom player of South Korean origin, co-founder of the Carom Café and organizer of the Verhoeven Open
DATE OF BIRTH	1949
PLACE OF BIRTH	South Korea

[Kang-Kozoom-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Frits Bakker: Michael Kang, the Carom Cafe and the memory of Sang Lee. Kozoom , July 21, 2011, accessed July 31, 2018 .

[Amherst-2] Scott Merzbach: Michael's Billiards in Amherst ends 25-year run. Daily Hampshire Gazette, July 16, 2018, archived from the original July 31, 2018 ; accessed on July 31, 2018 (English).