Tongaat’s Debbie Marimuthu has made the pool hall her kingdom, recently claiming a bronze team medal at the Blackball World Championships.

Competing against players from around the world in Bridlington in the UK from October 11-18, Debbie also finished her first international tournament, ranked 13th overall.

It was the culmination of almost 15 years playing the sport, including a prolonged period when she fell out of love with the pool table.

“I had probably played on and off for around 10 years, enjoying the game but never taking it too seriously,” said Debbie.

“But I hung up my pool cue when life and work got busy and only got back into it during a spell of depression a few years ago. A friend of mine signed me up for the local pool hall to force me to get out of the house.”

She joined Tongaat’s Hotshots Pool Academy and rediscovered her love for pool as she was rediscovering her love for life.

“The people at the pool hall became my family and I decided then to try and give it my best shot,” she said.

Debbie began playing competitively in 2022 and honed her deadly skills on the pool table, including perfecting the cut shot, which she cites as her specialty.

After making it through provincial qualifying earlier this year, she performed well enough at the national championships to make the South African team for worlds.

There she played 40 games, winning 19. That included one ‘runout’ where she broke and finished the table before her opponent was able to play.

“It was an incredible experience playing against world class competition and it has definitely made me a better player overall.”

Debbie finished the tournament as part of the third-best team overall, South African Ladies 2, claiming bronze behind South African Ladies 1 and winners, France.

She was knocked out in the second round of the singles, but ended ranked 13th by way of her performances in the teams section.

Find a full list of results at cuescore.com.

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