#Pool carom billiards masako katsura professional

In 19, she again competed for the world three-cushion crown, taking fifth and fourth places respectively. Her fame cemented, Katsura went on an exhibition tour of the United States with eight-time world champion Welker Cochran, and later with 51-time world champion Willie Hoppe.

Katsura was the first woman ever to be included in any world billiards tournament. There she was invited to play in the 1952 U.S.-sponsored World Three-Cushion Championship, ultimately taking seventh place at that competition.

Army non-commissioned officer in 1950, Katsura emigrated to the United States in 1951. In exhibition she was noted for running 10,000 points at the game of straight rail.Īfter marrying a U.S. In competition in Japan, she took second place in the country's national three-cushion billiards championship three times.

#Pool carom billiards masako katsura professional

First learning the game from her brother-in-law and then under the tutelage of Japanese champion Kinrey Matsuyama, Katsura became Japan's only female professional player. Katsura blazed a trail for women in the sport by competing and placing among the best in the male-dominated world of professional billiards. Masako Katsura ( 桂マサ子, Katsura Masako, listen 7 March 1913 – 1995), nicknamed ' Katsy' and sometimes called the ' First Lady of Billiards', was a Japanese carom billiards player who was most active in the 1950s.