The First Lady of Billiards: Masako Katsura’s Record-Breaking Career

Masako Katsura was the first female player to make it into the top ranks of billiards, joining the Women’s International Billiards and Snooker Association in 1973 and becoming the first woman to be inducted into the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association in 1988. Although she played professionally in an era where women weren’t taken seriously, Katsura fought through chauvinism, racism, and sexism to become one of the best players in her sport. Here’s how she changed the game forever.

Katsura’s early life and love for billiards

Masako Katsura was born in Japan on October 11, 1950. She started playing billiards when she was in her early twenties. From 1972 to 1977, she set a string of world records and became the first woman to break the 700 barriers with an 824 series. This record stood for over two decades until it was broken in 1997 by Allison Fisher with an 826 series.

In 1994, she was inducted into the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame. In 1997, she was inducted into the Women in Games International Pioneer Hall of Fame. The IBSF honored her by making a room in their headquarters after her name and later erected a statue at Shimonoseki, Japan. She is considered one of the top five greatest women bowlers.

Nihon Ki-in Woman Sumo Open Tournament: After she retired from sports, she became an umpire for professional sumo wrestling matches held in Nihon Ki-in halls throughout Japan. Her responsibilities included training new generations of female referees and inspecting local tournaments to ensure that they comply with official rules.

Katsura enters the professional world

Masako Katsura was born on May 25, 1935, in Tokyo, Japan. She started playing pool when she was 18 years old and quickly became an accomplished player. In 1958, at the age of 23, she made her professional debut by winning the Tsuru Memorial All-Japan Nine-Ball Championship. She was inducted into the WPA Hall of Fame in 1990 for being the first female to become a member of their player council.

Masako’s legacy is that she helped to change the face of women in billiards from amateur players to professionals and champions.

Katsura sets world records

Masako Katsura born in Osaka, Japan is a table tennis player who competed for her country as well as professionally. Over the course of her career, she set world records for both table tennis and billiards. Her first world record was for setting a new international scoring system in billiard which had previously been hard to keep up with due to outdated scorekeeping.

It consisted of games won, conceded, and pockets potted, giving more detail than the previous game number used. As such her record became universally recognized because it would be impossible to refute it while the majority of other players were still using game numbers to tally their scores. She then set an international world record when she pots 35 balls in a row in two hours while playing pool which is known as Straight Pool.

Katsura retires from professional billiards

Masako Katsura born in Japan on July 1, 1945, was a billiard who competed in the 1972 World Championships and captured three consecutive U.S. Women’s Open titles from 1967 to 1969. In 1968, she became the first woman ever to break 100. She retired from professional billiards in 1972 at age 27 with the world record for the high game (300), high series (868), and highest run (590).

Katsura’s legacy

Masako Katsura was the first female professional billiards player in the world. She is also the first woman to break 150 points on a pool table (150 points is considered an excellent game). When she retired, she had won more than 200 tournaments and set world records in 11 different events.

Masako started playing when she was only four years old, and it wasn’t long before she was playing with her father at his table. Her father encouraged her to play professionally but her mother wanted her to stay home and get married instead. Despite this, Masako went on to be one of the most accomplished players in history.

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