3-Cushion
NEW YORK – She will arrive on Saturday, for a five-day trip in New York, America, along with four other Japanese players. For the first time in the Carom Café as one of the participants in the Verhoeven Open tournament: 31 year old Japanese Natsumi Higashiuchi, reigning world champion three cushion.
What are the expectations for New York, how does she feel after the most sensational succes in her career, how is her life in Japan after she won the most important title in billiards. And most of all: who is Natsumi, actually, in everyday life?
Kozoom spoke with the world champion in the week before the Open Verhoeven.
Profile:
Natsumi Higashiuchi
Age: 31
Home town: Tokyo
Relationship: boy friend
Work: in a billiard room
Brand cue: Adam Musashi
Private billiard table: I don’t have a table for my own, in the billiard club we play on a Vivace, a Korean table and a Verhoeven.
Clubs in Japan: Kobayashi Billard Club (where I worked), Russell billard club and Canon Ball Billard club.
Frits Bakker: For the first time in the Carom Cafe, the New York billiard temple, for the first time in America? That must be a wonderful experience?
Natsumi Higashiuchi: 'Yes, I've never been in America. I'm definitely looking forward.''
FB: How many Japanese players are coming to New York? And are you traveling together?
NH: ,,We will show up with four Japanese players there: Orie Hida, her mother Kazumi Hida, Namiko Hayashi and myself. We come with the same flight and stay in the same hotel.''
FB: How long will you stay in New York? The main thing is to play the tournament, of course, but you will do some sightseeing as well?
NH: ,,We arrive early on Saturday and will return on Thursday the 18th. For Wednesday we planned a little sightseeing. But I still don’t know where to go.''
FB: Your victory in the World championship, did it change your life in Japan or in the world of three cushion?
NH: ,,My life has not changed that much. I can say that I feel a bit more pressure when I play a tournament, more than before I won the title.''
FB: And what has changed in your normal, everyday life since last year. At the time of the World championship you were looking for a job?
NH: ,,Now I’m working in two different billiard clubs. It was a bit hard to start a job which is not linked to billiards.’’
FB: Do you find enough to practice and do other things?
NH: ,,I like to play tennis, guitar and piano. And if I go out with friends, we go for a lunch or a dinner. And sometimes to a karaoke bar to sing.''
FB: Was the World championship in Japan, with the huge Japanese success, an inspiration for younger girls to play billiards?
NH: ,,You could see some movement, more pool players who wanted to play three cushion, hoping to attract more eyes of people in billiards. But the growth was not spectacular.''
FB: How popular is three cushion in Japan?
NH: ,,It's not very popular. There are many pool players, but not so many people who know three cushion. It is a very minority.''
FB: Was the Open Femina in Belgium, where you did not play at the level of the world champion, a disappointment?
NH: ,,Yes, it was definitely a disappointment. I really felt the difference between a tournament in my country and playing in another country after a long flight. I hope to perform much better in New York.''
FB: What do you really expect from New York? Who are your main competitors?
NH: ,,The top players from recent years, for sure, with Therese Klompenhouwer and Orie Hida''.
Thanks for the interview, Natsumi. And good luck in New York.
Natsumi: ,,Thank you, I hope that it will be a great event.’’