Ewa Laurance

Ewa Laurance, formerly Svensson and Mataya Laurance, is a Swedish professional pool player born on February 26, 1964, best known on the Women's Professional Billiard Association nine-ball tour, and also a sports writer and, more recently, an ESPN commentator. She was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 2004 and has been nicknamed the Leading Lady of Billiards and the Striking Viking. She has played pool since the age of four and moved to the United States in 1981, aged seventeen, after competing in the 1980 WPBA World Straight Pool Championship in New York City. In 1983 she became the first female European player to win a professional pool event in the United States.