Tai Pichit

{{Infobox snooker player

| name = Tai Pichit

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1963|01|10}}

| birth_place = Thailand

| Sport country = {{THA}}

| Professional = 1994–1997, 1998/1999

| High ranking = 124 (1998/1999)

| Official maximums =

| Best finish = Last 16 (x1)

}}

Chuchart Trairatanapradit ({{langx|th|ชูชาติ ไตรรัตนประดิษฐ์}}), popularly known as Tai Pichit ({{langx|th|ต่าย พิจิตร}}; born 10 January 1963{{cite book |last1=Hayton |first1=Eric |last2=Dee |first2=John |year=2004 |title=The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker: The Complete Record & History |publisher=Rose Villa Publications |location=Lowestoft |isbn=978-0-9548549-0-4 |pages=810-811}}) 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.{{cite news |title=Give Steve knighthood |newspaper=Manchester Evening News |date=12 February 1994 |page=S26 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/manchester-evening-news-gsk/174428111/ |via=Newspapers.com}} 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.{{cite news |title=Hicks heaps misery on erring Davis |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/snooker-hicks-heaps-misery-on-erring-davis-1616285.html |work=The Independent |date=19 April 1995 |accessdate=4 May 2013}}

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.{{cite magazine |title=Stevens, O'Brien, Hunter in top 16 for first time |magazine=Snooker Scene |date=June 1999 |publisher=Everton's News Agency |location=Birmingham |pages=29–30 }} 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.{{cite web| url = https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/snooker/how-genius-alex-higgins-took-snooker-to-all-new-level-and-inspired-stars-of-the-future-39056456.html| title = How genius Alex Higgins took snooker to all new level and inspired stars of the future – BelfastTelegraph.co.uk}}

Performance and rankings timeline

class="wikitable" style="font-size:85%;"

! Tournament

style="background:#EFEFEF;"|Ranking{{cite web|title=Ranking History|url=http://www.snooker.org/rnk/history.asp|publisher=Snooker.org|accessdate=17 June 2019|archive-date=19 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181219070820/http://www.snooker.org/Rnk/history.asp|url-status=live}}It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.

|align="center"|He was an amateur

|align="center"|

|align="center"|New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking

|align="center"|171

|align="center"|140

|align="center"|

colspan="10"|Ranking tournaments

style="background:#EFEFEF;"|Grand Prix

|align="center" style="color:#555555;"|A