Teenage Sensation Panchaya Channoi Writes History With Women's World Title
A Champion Born the Hard Way
There is a particular kind of silence that falls over a snooker venue when someone very young does something very special. At the Dongguan Changping Snooker Centre on Tuesday, that silence gave way to something closer to disbelief — and then, swiftly, to applause. Eighteen-year-old Panchaya Channoi had just potted the final ball of a 59 break to claim the 2026 World Women's Snooker Championship, beating the most decorated player in the history of the event, Reanne Evans, by a commanding 6-2. The Mandy Fisher Trophy was hers. So, too, was a place in history.
Channoi's victory was not built on fortune or favourable draws. She came through what may well be the toughest bracket the women's world championship has ever produced, eliminating two-time defending champion Bai Yulu in the quarter-finals in a tight 4-3 contest, and then dismantling Thai icon Mink Nutcharut 5-3 in the semi-finals. To reach a world final, she had to go through the two women who, between them, had dominated the sport in recent seasons. She did it without flinching.
Century From the First Ball
The final itself told the story of a player operating without fear. Channoi opened proceedings with a break of 100 — a statement that left little room for ambiguity about her intentions — and proceeded to take the next two frames as well, arriving at the mid-session interval with a 3-0 lead and a composure that belied her age entirely.
Evans, who had not appeared in a world final since 2019 and had won every previous final she had contested, refused to fold. She clawed back the fourth frame on the black — the kind of moment that has defined her career, the tenacious refusal to be put away — and added the fifth as well to make it 3-2. For a brief spell, you could feel the possibility of an Evans comeback gathering weight in the room.
But Channoi answered with the shot of the match. A tournament-high break of 107 in the sixth frame extinguished whatever flickering momentum Evans had found. It was clinical, unhurried, and utterly devastating. The seventh frame followed, and then came that closing 59 to seal the title. Evans, to her immense credit, had never before been beaten in a world final across twelve appearances. Her record of invincibility at the last hurdle had to end somewhere. It simply had the misfortune of ending against someone playing the snooker of her life.
Thailand's Third Women's World Champion
Channoi becomes the third women's world champion from Thailand, joining Nutcharut — whom she had beaten just 24 hours earlier to win the world under-21 title for the second successive year — in representing a country that has become an increasingly formidable force in the women's game. That she successfully defended her under-21 crown on the Monday before lifting the senior title on the Tuesday speaks to a level of mental fortitude that most players twice her age would struggle to replicate.
The wider context of the draw adds further lustre to her achievement. Ng On Yee, who had won the two most recent ranking events heading into the World Championship, reached the semi-finals before losing 5-1 to Evans — meaning Channoi's path to the title required her to navigate what amounted to a who's who of the women's game at its current peak.
Her prize for all of this? £13,000 — and a professional place on the World Snooker Tour. The latter may well prove the more significant reward in the long run. At 18, with a world title already around her neck, the prospect of Channoi testing herself in professional competition is one that the broader snooker world would do well to take notice of.
Evans: Still Among the Very Best
It would be a disservice to Reanne Evans to let her afternoon pass without proper acknowledgement. A 12-time women's world champion who has spent the better part of two decades as the defining figure of the women's game, she reached a thirteenth final and pushed a remarkably talented teenager closer than the scoreline perhaps suggests. The search for a record-extending crown goes on, but her semi-final demolition of Ng On Yee demonstrated that Evans at her best remains a formidable proposition for anyone on the circuit.
Tuesday in Dongguan belonged, though, to Panchaya Channoi. Young, fearless, and already a world champion. Whatever comes next, she has earned the right to dream as big as the game allows.
