Noppon Saengkham missed his daughter’s birth to (Image: Getty)
Noppon Saengkham once missed the birth of his daughter to remain at the . He has since revealed that his daughter is named after his idol, .
The Thai star was playing at The Crucible in 2022 when his daughter was born. His first-round victory over Luca Brecel that year meant his wait to see his newborn was delayed, and he eventually met her over a video call.
He said at the time: “I’m very happy, my daughter was born yesterday at 7am UK time. I speak with my wife every day. I’ll see my daughter on a video call so everything will be OK.”
Saengkham and his partner named their daughter ‘Believe’. Remarkably, the inspiration was taken from fellow professional snooker player Selby, who famously said “believe, believe, believe” into a camera before coming from behind to win the 2017 World Snooker Championship final.
“I got the idea of the name from when Mark Selby was 10-4 down against John Higgins in the 2017 World final,” he added.
“He said ‘believe, believe, believe’ when the camera was on him – and he came back to win. He knows I like him. I love his game. His game is to never give up. That is why I like him.”
Saengkham did not have too long to wait to see Believe in person. He lost in the second round and headed home. The 32-year-old is currently ranked 27th in the world.
One of his most famous runs of results came at the World Grand Prix in January 2023, where he defeated none other than Selby and then seven-time champion Ronnie O’Sullivan. He is also a former champion of the U21 Worlds.
Noppon Saengkham is an eccentric character who is a big fan of fellow snooker pro Mark Selby (Image: Getty)
“I am feeling over the moon,” Saengkham said after defeating O’Sullivan, who at the time was in tremendous form.
“Ronnie is like a hero of all the snooker players and it is not easy to beat him but actually I had to beat my heart first because when we are paired with him, we already lost half (the battle) so I had to beat my heart first.
“Yeah the first shot when I get a chance on pink and I miss, then the second chance I just try say to myself, ‘I believe in you,’ because my daughter’s name is believe so I said I needed to pot the pink to win it and I got it.”