Chuchart Trairatanapradit (), popularly known as Tai Pichit (; born 10 January 1963) is a Thai former professional snooker player.
Pichit participated at the World Snooker Championship three times, reaching the first round in 1995. Pichit's best overall ranking finish was at the 1994 Thailand Open, where he reached the last 16 stage.
Career At the 1991 Thailand Masters, Tai lost 4–5 in the first round to Allison Fisher. He won the IBSF World Amateur Championship in 1993, defeating Praput Chaithanasakun 11–6 in the final, and turned professional in 1994. At the 1994 Thailand Open he beat Colin Morton 5–2 in the wildcard round and then and Stephen Hendry 5–2, before losing to Darren Morgan 4–5 in the second round.
One year later, he participated at his first World Snooker Championship, qualifying for the 1995 edition of the tournament. Pichit defeated Mark Whatley 5–3, Adrian Rosa 5–1, Mike Dunn 5–2, Warren King 10–0, Stuart Reardon 10–8, Alex Higgins 10–5, Euan Henderson 10–6 and Mike Hallett 10–8 to set up an encounter with Willie Thorne, which he lost 6–10.
He also participated in the 1996 UK Championship, defeating Jimmy White 9–7 in the first round, and advanced to the second round, where he was defeated by Joe Johnson 6–9.
In 1998–99, Pichit was ranked 124th, the highest ranking in his career. However, he ended the season at 150th, which meant that he did not qualify to continue on the professional circuit.
Personal life Pichit was a Buddhist monk (bhikkhu) before he became a professional snooker player.
Performance and rankings timeline Tournament 1990/91 1991/92 1993/94 1994/95 1995/96 1996/97 1998/99RankingIt shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.He was an amateurNew players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking171140Ranking tournamentsGrand PrixAAALQLQLQLQUK ChampionshipAAALQLQ2RLQIrish OpenThe event was called the European Open (1990/1991–1996/1997)AAALQLQLQLQWelsh OpenAAALQLQLQLQScottish OpenThe event was called the International Open (1993/1994–1996/1997)Not HeldA1RLQLQLQThailand MastersThe event was called the Asian Open (1990/1991–1991/1992) and the Thailand Open (1993/1994–1996/1997)AA2RLQWDLQLQChina InternationalTournament Not HeldLQBritish OpenAAALQLQLQLQWorld ChampionshipAAA1RLQLQLQFormer ranking tournamentsAsian ClassicThe event was called the Dubai Classic (1990/1991–1994/1995) and the Thailand Classic (1995/1996)AAALQWDLQNHGerman MastersThe event was called the German Open (1995/1996–1996/1997)Tournament Not HeldLQLQNRFormer non-ranking tournamentsKent CupSFTournament Not HeldThailand MastersR1RRanking EventHong Kong ChallengeA1RTournament Not HeldIndian ChallengeNH1RTournament Not Held Performance Table LegendLQ lost in the qualifying draw#R lost in the early rounds of the tournament(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)QF lost in the quarter-finalsSF lost in the semi-finalsF lost in the finalW won the tournamentDNQ did not qualify for the tournamentA did not participate in the tournamentWD withdrew from the tournament NH / Not Held means an event was not held.NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.
Career finals Pro-am finals: 2 Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Ref.Runner-up 1. 1991 Southeast Asian Games Praput Chaithanasakun 1–5Runner-up 2. 1993 Southeast Asian Games (2) Praput Chaithanasakun 0–5
Amateur finals: 6 (2 titles) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Ref.Runner-up 1. 1989 Thailand Amateur Championship Udon Khaimuk 5–8Winner 1. 1991 ACBS Asian Snooker Championship Yasin Merchant 8–3Runner-up 2. 1992 ACBS Asian Snooker Championship Praput Chaithanasakun 7–8Runner-up 3. 1993 ACBS Asian Snooker Championship (2) Praput Chaithanasakun 5–8Winner 2. 1993 World Amateur Championship Praput Chaithanasakun 11–6Runner-up 4. 2010 World Amateur Championship – Masters Philip Williams 4–6
References