The present Doodle celebrates able to use both hands Japanese sharpshooter Masako “The First Lady of Billiards” Katsura, who left a mark on the world as the principal lady to seek a global billiards title on this day in 1952.
Brought into the world in Tokyo in 1913, Katsura got billiards at age 12 from her brother by marriage, a game room proprietor, and by 15 she was the Japanese ladies’ hero in straight rail—a difficult variety of carom billiards wherein the signal ball should hit two balls straight to score focuses. After 19, she just contended in men’s competitions; piling up 10,000 focuses at one show in a staggering four and a half hour run.
When Katsura moved to the United States in 1937, expression of her remarkable ability had arrived at eight-time title holder Welker Cochran. He emerged from retirement to challenge her in a progression of three-pad coordinates, a much harder rendition of carom billiards, portrayed in the Doodle work of art, that requires the signal ball to hit at any rate three pads prior to striking the two item balls for focuses. Katsura so dazzled Welker, he coordinated the World Championship Billiards competition in 1952 to watch her go up against world’s chief billiards enthusiasts. Katsura upset a portion of the game’s best players to complete seventh in the competition, while the advancement she made for ladies in a generally male-ruled game was a first.
To praise her notable accomplishments, Katsura was enlisted into the Women’s Professional Billiard Association Hall of Fame in 1976 as one of the game’s untouched most noteworthy players.
So here’s to you, First Lady of Billiards! A debt of gratitude is in order for prompting up this game for ages of ladies to come.
