Han Yu

Han Yu (; born 10 July 1992 in Tangshan, China) is a Chinese professional pool player. She is a four-time world pool champion, having won the WPA Women's World Nine-ball Championship in 2013, 2016 and 2018, and the WPA Women's World Heyball Championship in 2018. Han has also reached the final of the WPA World Ten-ball Championship in 2023, and the semi-finals of three further Women's World Championships: the nine-ball event in 2017, and the ten-ball events in 2011 and 2014.

Han won the nine-ball event at the women's division of the All Japan Championship in 2009 and in 2019. She has also won the women's division of the China Open 9-Ball Championship on four occasions: 2014, 2016, 2023, and 2024. Han received Billiard Digests ' "Player of the Year" award in 2016, and AZBilliards ' "Player of the Year" award in 2016 and 2018. Han peaked at number one in the WPA Women's world rankings first in 2014.

Career Han Yu was born 10 July 1992 in Tangshan, China. She began playing pool at the age of six after following her father Han Yongqua to a pool hall. She would step on tip-toe to play shots, her father saw passion for the game and took her to Beijing and Singapore for professional training. Yongqua and his wife had a disagreement over letting their daughter play pool professionally. He took Han to Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Northern China to get opinions on her play, including from Liu Haitao. With positive reviews, Yongqua chose to support her playing professionally. The final for her win was watched by over 100 million people. In 2014, Han reached the semi-finals of the WPA Women's World Ten-ball Championship but lost to Fisher again.

In 2016, Han reached the semi-finals of the Amway Cup, where she was defeated 8–9 by the eventual champion Chezka Centeno. In December 2016, Han won her second nine-ball Women's World Championship, defeating Chihiro Kawahara 9–7 in the final.

Han was seeded eighth at the 2019 World Pool Masters and bypassed the preliminary round, but lost 6–7 to Shane Van Boening in the first round.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, unable to travel for pool tournaments, Han volunteered at a nucleic acid testing site in her hometown of Tangshan. where she lost 59 to Chezka Centeno. The victor was set to be awarded the largest winners prize in women's pool.

Han went on to win the China Women's 9-Ball Championship twice more in consecutive years, defeating Liu Shasha 9–7 in 2023 and Wang Xiaotong 9–8 in 2024. She partnered with Wu Kun-lin at the 2024 Kamui Mixed Doubles event, where they won the best-of-three final 4–3 and 4–0. At the 2025 World Games, Han won the women's division of the ten-ball event, defeating Centeno in the final.

Awards Han was awarded the "Player of the Year" award in 2016 by Billiards Digest and AZBilliards for winning the China Open and World Nine-ball Championships in the same year. Han reached number one on the WPA Women's world ranking in 2014, following her first world championship win in 2013. 2013 WPA Women's World Nine-ball Championship 2016 WPA Women's World Nine-ball Championship 2018 AZBilliards "Player of the Year" 2019 All Japan Championship 2023 China Open 9-Ball Championship The wedding was hosted by China Central Television billiards commentator Jiang Yi. They have a daughter who was born in 2020.