Yang Ching-shun (Chinese: 楊清順; born 3 April 1978) is a Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

ese professional pool

Pocket billiards

Pool, also more formally known as pocket billiards or pool billiards , is the family of cue sports and games played on a pool table having six receptacles called pockets along the , into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play. Popular versions include eight-ball and nine-ball...

 player, nicknamed "the Son of Pool."

Yang won the nine-ball event of the 1998 Asian Games against then World Pool champion Kunihiko Takahashi

Kunihiko Takahashi

is a Japanese professional pool player and a former world champion. Nicknamed "The Sniper."He began practicing pool at 17 and turned professional in 1996. In 1998, he won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship by defeating the reigning champion, Johnny Archer, in the final match...

. He defended it in 2002 against Warren Kiamco

Warren Kiamco

Warren Kiamco is a Filipino professional pool player from Cebu, Philippines. He is known for his performances in the South East Asian and Asian Games....

. In an unsuccessful attempt to defend that title for the second time, Yang settled for 3rd place as he was bested in the semi-finals by Jeff de Luna

Jeff de Luna

Jeffrey "Jeff" de Luna is a Filipino professional pool player from Manila. His nickname is "Jeff Bata", due to the similarity of his playing style to that of his mentor, Efren "Bata" Reyes....

 who then finished second to Antonio Gabica.

Despite the fact that he never won a world championship in any discipline of pool like two of his fellow Taiwanese players (Chao Fong-pang

Chao Fong-pang

Chao Fong-pang is a Taiwanese professional pool player.He won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in 1993 against Thomas Hasch of Germany...

 and Wu Chia-ching

Wu Chia-ching

Wu Jia-Qing is a professional pool player. He is nicknamed the Taishan Shentong . Previously known as Wu Chia-Ching , he changed his name upon moving to China....

) did, Yang has often been regarded as a potential world champion.

His best finish in the World Pool Championship is 3rd where he reached the semi-finals in 2002. However, he was bested by Francisco Bustamante

Francisco Bustamante

Francisco Bustamante is a Filipino professional pocket billiards player from Tarlac, and the 2010 World Nine-ball Champion., nicknamed "Django", after the lead character of the film of the same name, and sometimes also called "Bustie", especially in the United States.-Early life:Bustamante is the...

 who eventually lost to Earl Strickland

Earl Strickland

Earl "The Pearl" Strickland is an American professional pool player and was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 2006...

 in the finals

As His father died while he was still a child, yang was left to fend for his own along with his mother. He express no interest in his studies and chose to work in a local billiard hall near his home, where he met Chao Fong Pang. He first started playing pool at the age of 14 and by the time he was 16, he was Japan open champion beating Fransico Bustamante. His hobbies include golf and fishing.

Titles

• 2008 WPA Asian Nine-ball Tour, Jakarta Leg
• 2007 WPA Asian Nine-ball Tour, Singapore Leg
• 2007 WPA Asian Nine-ball Tour, China Leg
• 2007 WPA Asian Nine-ball Tour, Kaohshiung Leg
• 2007 Money Game King Showdown
• 2006 Super Cup
• 2005 WPA Asian Nine-ball Tour, Kaohsiung Leg
• 2004 WPA Asian Nine-ball Tour, Hong Kong Leg
• 2003 WPA Asian Nine-ball Tour, Singapore Leg
• 2002 Asian Games gold medalist (nine-ball)
• 1998 Asian Games gold medalist (nine-ball)
• 1996 All Japan Championship