A female Strandfontein pool player has been ranked the number one woman player in the world after sinking the competition at the 2018 Blackball International World Championships in the UK.
Joy Willenberg, 31, who represented South Africa, arrived back in town on Wednesday after the seven-day tournament in Bridlington, London.
Joy started playing cue sports in 2012 along with her older brother, Alvin, 38, and has since won several titles.
At the championships last week, she competed in the teams, singles and doubles events.
“In the team event, you will play with your team against every member of the opposing team, which in the final round was England,” she explains.
“They count the team score but each player is scored individually and that is when I got my ranking as the number one female pool player, but they don’t give you a medal for it at international tournaments.
“In the finals, we lost to England and walked away with the silver medal, which I am very proud of as we were one of 32 teams from across the world.”
Joy was mentored by Hitesh Naran, owner of Naran’s Snooker Club in Lansdowne.
But he never got to see his protégé flourish. In 2015, Naran fell ill and died in hospital.
During the South African Snooker Championships Joy dedicated her games to the memory of Naran and beat her opponent, Nicola Rossouw, in the first Classics event, but lost to the same opponent in the final round.
For her UK trip, Joy needed to raise R10 000 and she came up with an idea to design jackets with 15 balls on the back, each sponsored by a company or club.
STAR: Joy Willenberg, 31
“I made about R5 000 towards the trip doing this and other people have taken on the idea, which I am happy for.”
Joy will now be participating in the All Africa Ladies 9-ball tournament in Montague Gardens this weekend.
monique.duval@inl.co.za