Akani Songsermsawad (; born 10 September 1995), better known as Sunny Akani, is a Thai former professional snooker player.

Career

Early career

Akani, a regular in amateur Thai snooker events since 2011, first came to international attention with a 5–2 win over professional

Matthew Selt Matthew Selt (born 7 March 1985) is an English professional snooker player originally from Romford, east London and now living in Chelmsford, Essex. He qualified for the professional tour by finishing seventh on the Pontin's International Open ...

in the

Six-red World Championship The Six-red World Championship is a six-red snooker tournament, played with the six and six . Ding Junhui is the reigning champion. History The event was first held in the 2008/2009 season, and was known as the Six-red Snooker Internationa ...

, in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2015–2017

In 2015 he won the

ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship The ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker Championship is the premier non-professional junior snooker tournament in Asia. The event series is sanctioned by the Asian Confederation of Billiard Sports and started from 1993. In most of the seasons, the winner ...

, beating

Yuan Sijun Yuan Sijun (Chinese: 袁思俊; born 29 May 2000) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Career Yuan started to play snooker at the age of 10 and played as a wildcard in many professional tournaments between ages of 13 and 16. Yuan first drew ...

6–4 in the final and as a result was given a two-year card on the professional

World Snooker Tour The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of approximately 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. The World Snooker Tour is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial ar ...

for the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons. His first appearance in a ranking event qualifier came at the 2016 World Championship, where he was edged out 10–9 by compatriot

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (, ; born 18 April 1985) is a Thai professional snooker player. He has won one Snooker world rankings, ranking event, the 2019 Snooker Shoot Out, and finished as runner-up in the 2019 World Open (snooker), 2019 World Open. H ...

in the opening round. Akani qualified for the 2016 Indian Open by defeating

Ben Woollaston Ben Woollaston (born 14 May 1987) is an English professional snooker player from Leicester. His sole professional title came at the minor-ranking third Players Tour Championship event in 2011. Woollaston's only ranking event final came at the ...

4–3 and then saw off

Jamie Burnett Jamie Burnett (born 16 September 1975) is a Scottish former professional snooker player from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire. A journeyman, Burnett was ranked within the world's top 64 players for 20 consecutive years between 1996 and 2016, reac ...

4–1,

Mark Davis Mark Davis may refer to: Entertainers *Mark Davis (talk show host), American radio talk show host * Mark Jonathan Davis (born 1965), American actor/singer and creator of Richard Cheese *Mark Davis, American bassist and founding member for the band ...

4–2 and Gary Wilson 4–2 (opened the match with a 104 break) to reach the quarter-finals of the first ranking he had appeared at. He took a 2–1 lead over

Kyren Wilson Kyren Wilson (; born 23 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Kettering and a five-time ranking event winner. He has been a runner-up at two of the three Triple Crown events, having reached the final at both the 2018 ...

, but would go on to lose 4–2. He also lost in the quarter-finals of the non-ranking

7–4 to

Stuart Bingham Stuart Bingham (born 21 May 1976) is an English professional snooker player who is a former world and Masters champion. Bingham won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his professional ...

. At the Northern Ireland Open, Akani eliminated

Cao Yupeng Cao Yupeng (; born 27 October 1990) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He won the 2011 Asian Under-21 Championship, thus qualifying for the professional main tour for the 2011–12 season. In his first season on the circuit, he reached ...

4–1 and

4–3 and was knocked out in the third round 4–2 by Wilson. He qualified for the

German Masters The German Masters is a professional ranking snooker tournament held at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany since 2011. The 2021 event was held at Milton Keynes in England because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zhao Xintong is the reigning champion, h ...

by seeing off

Graeme Dott Graeme Dott (born 12 May 1977) is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001. He has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship a ...

and

Jack Lisowski Jack Adam Lisowski (born 25 June 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Churchdown, Gloucestershire. He turned professional in 2010 by finishing first in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. A left-handed player, he is known for his atta ...

, but was thrashed 5–0 by

Zhao Xintong Zhao Xintong (; born 3 April 1997) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Long considered one of the brightest talents in the game, he won his first ranking title (also his first Triple Crown title) at the 2021 UK Championship, defeating Lu ...

in the first round. He stood one win away from playing in the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

after defeating

Mei Xiwen Mei Xiwen (;born October 8, 1982) is a Chinese former professional snooker player. Career Mei made his debut on the Main Tour in the 2009/2010 season, as the ACBS Asian nomination, playing his first match at the 2009 Grand Prix. He lost 5� ...

10–5 and Joe Perry 10–9, but was heavily beaten 10–3 by

David Grace David Grace (born 1949 in Rugby, Warwickshire, England) is a British racing driver and businessman. He was the CEO at Rockingham Motor Speedway between 2000 and 2002, and oversaw the opening of the track and the return, after many years, of CART ...

. Akani failed to break into the top 64 in the rankings during his two years on tour, but will stay on it by topping the one-year list.

2017–2018

In 2017, he started the season like the year before. He reached the Last 16 of the

2017 Indian Open The 2017 Indian Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 12 and 16 September 2017 in Vishakhapatnam, India. It was the fourth ranking event of the 2017/2018 season. Qualifying took place between 1–2 August ...

after beating

Scott Donaldson Scott Donaldson (born 19 March 1994) is a Scottish professional snooker player. Donaldson turned professional in 2012 after winning the 2012 EBSA European Snooker Championship and gained a two-year tour card for the 2012–13 and 2013–14 ...

Stephen Maguire Stephen Maguire (born 13 March 1981) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won six major ranking tournaments, including the 2004 UK Championship, and has twice since reached the finals of that event. Maguire turned professional in ...

, and

Dominic Dale Dominic Dale (born Christopher Dale on 29 December 1971) is a Welsh professional snooker player and snooker commentator and presenter for the BBC and Eurosport. Career Dale was born in Coventry, England. He won the Welsh Amateur Championship, ...

before losing 4–2 to

Liam Highfield Liam Highfield (born 1 December 1990) is an English professional snooker player. He turned professional in 2010 after finishing second in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. He plays left-handed. Career Amateur years In the 2007/2008 season, Highfie ...

. At the 2017 World Open qualifying round, he had a close match against

Liang Wenbo Liang Wenbo (; born 25 March 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player based at the Oracle Snooker Club, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England. Liang, who plays left-handed, has reached one Triple Crown final, made three Masters appearances, and ...

losing 5–4 after being 2–0 and 4–2 up and scoring back-to-back century breaks (101 and 119) but losing the "decider". At the 2017 International Championship, he was 2–0, 3–1 and 4–2 behind but he won the last 4 frames to beat

Marco Fu Marco Fu Ka-chun, MH, JP (, born 8 January 1978) is a Hong Kong professional snooker player. He is a three-time snooker world rankings, ranking event winner, having won the 2007 Grand Prix (snooker), 2007 Grand Prix, the 2013 Australian ...

by 6–4. In the last frame, he cleared the table with a break of 53 to win the frame by 2 points. After a walkover in the last 64, he lost against Martin O'Donnell 5–6, despite a lead of 5–2. During the

2017 UK Championship The 2017 UK Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place from 28 November to 10 December 2017 at the Barbican Centre in York, England. The event was the 41st edition of the UK Championship, first held in 1977, o ...

, Akani defeated three higher seeds, defeating

Fergal O'Brien Fergal O'Brien (born 8 March 1972) is an Irish professional snooker player who plays on the main professional tour since 1991. Ranked within the world's top 64 players from 1994 to 2022, he has reached his highest position of 9th in the 2000 ...

6–5, Michael Holt 6–4, and whitewashing former world championship runner-up

Barry Hawkins Barry Hawkins (born 23 April 1979) is an English professional snooker player from Ditton, Kent. He turned professional in 1996, but only rose to prominence in the 2004–05 snooker season, when he reached the last 16 of the 2004 UK Championship ...

6–0. After the match, Hawkins said the match "was up there with one of the worst I have ever played". In the last 16, Akani drew

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

and went ahead at scores of 2–0, 4–2 and 5–4, before losing the match 6–5. After the match O'Sullivan stated he believed Akani "deserved to win" and "felt like (he) robbed him of victory". The following competition, the 2017 Scottish Open, saw Akani lose in the first round to

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won three seniors World titles. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his fluid, attacking style of play, White is the 1980 World Amateur Champion, 2009 ...

4–1.

2018–2019

Akani failed to qualify for the first ranking event of the season, losing 4-3 to

Oliver Lines Oliver Lines (born 16 June 1995) is an English professional snooker player who practices at Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds. He is the son of professional snooker player Peter Lines. Career Amateur Lines switched sports from football to snook ...

in the qualifying round of the

2018 Riga Masters The 2018 Kaspersky Riga Masters was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 27 and 29 July 2018 at the Arena Riga in Riga, Latvia. It was the first ranking event of the 2018/2019 season. Ryan Day was the defending c ...

. He beat

Fan Zhengyi Fan Zhengyi (, born 27 January 2001) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He won the IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship in 2017, and turned professional in 2018. He had a breakthrough season in 2021–22 when he reached his first ra ...

6-5 to qualify for the 2018 World Open, where he was defeated 5-2 in the first round by Barry Hawkins. Akani reached the semi-finals of the non-ranking

2018 Haining Open The 2018 CBSA Haining Snooker International Open was a non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 31 July–4 August 2018 in Haining, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It ...

, where he was defeated 4-2 by

Li Hang Li Hang is the name of: * Li Hang (footballer) (李行, born 1989), Chinese association footballer *Li Hang (snooker player) (李行, born 1990), Chinese snooker player See also * Li Gang (Song dynasty) (李綱, 1083–1140), regional commander se ...

. He followed this by the knockout stage of the non-ranking

, coming through the round-robin stage by finishing second in Group E, scoring victories over Jimmy Robertson and

Mohamed Khairy Mohamed Alaa Khairy (born 26 December 1981) is an Egyptian former professional snooker player. Khairy turned professional in 2012 after having been nominated by the African Billiards and Snooker Federation, but was relegated from the tour afte ...

, and losing to group winner

Ding Junhui Ding Junhui (; born 1 April 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Throughout his career, he has won 14 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships (200 ...

. In the knockout stage, he beat Stephen Maguire and

Mohammed Shehab Mohammed Shehab (born 1976) is a former professional snooker player from the United Arab Emirates. The winner of the Snooker Singles at the 2007 Asian Indoor Games, Shehab has enjoyed good form in the six-red variant format, most notably at the ...

6-5 to reach the semi-finals, where he lost 7-5 to eventual champion Kyren Wilson. Having failed to qualify for the Indian Open and European Masters, Akani's next ranking event was the 2018 China Championship, where he lost 5-3 in the first round to

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player, who is a four-time World Snooker Champion. Ranked world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 21 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the ...

, who would go on to win the tournament. At the

2018 English Open The 2018 English Open (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2018 BetVictor English Open) was a professional ranking snooker tournament, that took place from 15 to 21 October 2018 in Crawley, West Sussex, England. It was the sixth ranking event o ...

, he defeated 8th seed Kyren Wilson 4-3 before losing 4-0 to

Anthony McGill Anthony McGill (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a practice partner of retired snooker player Alan McManus. McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. He wo ...

in the second round. Akani beat

Soheil Vahedi Soheil Vahedi ( fa, سهیل واحدی, born March 15, 1989) is an Iranian former professional snooker player. Career In 2009 Vahedi entered the World Amateur Under-21 Snooker Championships in his home country in Kish, Iran in which he reached ...

6-5 to qualify for the International Championship, where he defeated Mark Williams 6-3 and

Zhou Yuelong Zhou Yuelong (; born 24 January 1998) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He has been runner-up at three ranking events, the January 2020 European Masters, the 2020 Snooker Shoot Out, and the 2022 Northern Ireland Open. Career Between 2 ...

6-4 to reach the third round, where he lost 6-4 to

Ali Carter Allister Carter (born 25 July 1979) is an English professional snooker player. He has twice been the World Championship runner-up, in 2008 and 2012, losing both finals to Ronnie O'Sullivan. He has won four ranking titles and briefly reached numb ...

. A 4-0 victory over Fan Zhengyi in first round of the 2018 Northern Ireland Open set up a second round tie with

Xiao Guodong Xiao Guodong (, born 10 February 1989) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He turned professional in 2007 after winning the Asian Under-21 Championships. Career 2007–2010 Xiao appeared as a wildcard in the 2007 China Open, and beat t ...

, which he lost 4-3. Akani enjoyed another good showing at the 2018 UK Championship, defeating Eden Sharav and James Cahill 6-5, and winning 6-2 against Jak Jones to reach the last 16 for the second year running, where he lost 6-2 to Stuart Bingham. His next win at a ranking event came at the Shoot-Out, where he defeated Lyu Haotian and Billy Joe Castle before losing in the third round to amateur player Ryan Davies. Akani finished the season by failing to qualify for the 2019 World Championship, losing in the second round of qualifying 10-5 to

Robert Milkins Robert Milkins (born 6 March 1976) is an English professional snooker player. Considered one of the most naturally talented and quickest players in the game, Milkins has been a mainstay on the tour since regaining his tour card in 1998. Milkin ...

. He ended the season 52nd in the

Snooker world rankings The snooker world rankings are the official system of ranking professional snooker players to determine automatic qualification and seeding for tournaments on the World Snooker Tour. The ranking lists are maintained by the sport's governing body, ...

2021–2022

In July, Akani contracted

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

, although was not withdrawn from any events. However, in an interview after losing in the 2022 European Masters, he revealed that he had

Long COVID Long COVID or long-haul COVID (also known as post-COVID-19 syndrome, post-COVID-19 condition, post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), or chronic COVID syndrome (CCS)) is a condition characterized by long-term health problems persisting or app ...

and was unable to practise for more than minutes, where normally he would be on the snooker table as much as he was able to be on it, This led to a significant dip in form throughout the 2021-22 season, placing his tour position at the end of season at risk.

Style of play

Akani is known for his very deliberate cue action, where he plants his hand down with the cue before playing the next shot. In the book ''147 Snooker Drills and Exercises'' by Andrew Highfield, he named a challenge after Akani, after challenging him to complete the drill. He is also known for resting his chin on the cue extension when playing with a rest.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Amateur finals: 1 (1 title)

References

External links

Sunny Akani
at ''worldsnooker.com'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Akani, Sunny 1995 births Living people

Sunny Akani Akani Songsermsawad (; born 10 September 1995), better known as Sunny Akani, is a Thai former professional snooker player. Career Early career Akani, a regular in amateur Thai snooker events since 2011, first came to international attention with ...