Takeshi Okumura

Takeshi Okumura is a Japanese professional pool player, born on April 24, 1952, who started playing pool at sixteen and turned professional ten years later. He won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in 1994, defeating Yasunari Itsuzaki in an all-Japanese final, and became the first male Japanese player to win a world championship in pocket billiards; he stayed the oldest world champion until Nick Varner won in 1999. He lost the 1995 International Challenge of Champions final to Chao Fong-pang and the 2000 U.S. Open 9-ball final to Earl Strickland 5-11, and in 2005 he beat Mika Immonen in the final of the All Japan Championship. He was inducted into the Billiard Congress of Japan Hall of Fame in 2018.