Liu Hongyu ended the World Snooker Championship hopes of Jimmy White after dumping the six-time finalist out of the qualifying tournament on Thursday.
White was fortunate enough to receive a bye from the first round of the preliminary competition following the withdrawal of Martin Gould.
But the 61 year-old couldn’t take advantage, winning only three frames in a one-sided defeat to the Chinese teenager.
It brings to an end a disappointing 2023/24 campaign for White, who could only muster two victories throughout the entire term.
The reigning world seniors champion, regarded as arguably the best player to have never won a world title, hasn’t featured at the Crucible Theatre since 2006.
Liu dominated the affair from the beginning, the 19 year-old compiling breaks of 135, 74, 64, and 60 to set up a meeting with Jack Lisowski.
Elsewhere on day four at the World Snooker Championship qualifying event in Sheffield, several matches went much closer.
Lukas Kleckers consigned Allan Taylor to Q School in a dramatic finish where the German potted the final black in the deciding frame.
Stuart Carrington also prevailed after a 19-frame thriller, the Englishman winning the last three frames to deny countryman Liam Highfield.
The outcome of a lot of clashes were determined with 10-8 scorelines, including James Cahill’s triumph over Bulscu Revesz and Michael White’s comeback glory over Andrew Higginson.
David Grace, Jenson Kendrick, and He Guoqiang also prevailed by the same narrow two-frame margin.
Among the others to stay alive in the competition were Anthony Hamilton, Ian Burns, Ashley Hugill, and Jamie Clarke.
Mark Davis and Jimmy Robertson thrashed Andrew Pagett and Liam Davies 10-2 respectively, while Daniel Wells and Louis Heathcote also advanced to the penultimate round.
The action at the English Institute of Sport continues on Friday.
World Snooker Championship qualifiers draw
All matches are the best of 19 frames played across two sessions.
Scorelines in italics indicate the end of the first session.
–
Qualifier 1
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 1 | Jimmy White w/o Martin Gould | Jimmy White 3-10 Liu Hongyu | Liu Hongyu 4-10 Jack Lisowski | |
| Jack Lisowski 10-3 Matthew Stevens | ||||
| 2 | Ryan Thomerson 3-10 Liam Davies | Liam Davies 2-10 Jimmy Robertson | Jimmy Robertson 6-10 Matthew Stevens |
Qualifier 2
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 3 | Ian Burns 10-1 Dean Young | Ian Burns 10-7 Mark Joyce | Ian Burns 7-10 Ricky Walden | |
| Ricky Walden 10-9 Mark Davis | ||||
| 4 | Andy Lee 9-10 Andrew Pagett | Andrew Pagett 2-10 Mark Davis | Mark Davis 10-8 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh |
Qualifier 3
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 5 | Rory Thor 10-2 Hamza Ilyas | Rory Thor 8-10 David Grace | David Grace 6-10 Dominic Dale | |
| Dominic Dale 10-8 He Guoqiang | ||||
| 6 | Ross Muir 10-9 Cheung Ka Wai | Ross Muir 8-10 He Guoqiang | He Guoqiang 10-5 Anthony McGill |
Qualifier 4
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 7 | Alfie Burden 10-1 Rebecca Kenna | Alfie Burden 10-3 Xu Si | Alfie Burden 5-10 Jamie Jones | |
| Jamie Jones 10-9 Neil Robertson | ||||
| 8 | Ishpreet Singh Chadha 6-10 Gao Yang | Gao Yang 6-10 Zak Surety | Zac Surety 2-10 Neil Robertson |
Qualifier 5
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 9 | Sean O’Sullivan 8-10 Bulscu Revesz | Bulscu Revesz 8-10 James Cahill | James Cahill 0-10 Zhou Yuelong | |
| Zhou Yuelong 4-10 Jak Jones | ||||
| 10 | Andres Petrov 10-1 Ahmed Elsayed | Andres Petrov 7-10 Jamie Clarke | Jamie Clarke 6-10 Jak Jones |
Qualifier 6
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 11 | Adam Duffy 10-5 Mink Nutcharut | Adam Duffy 4-10 Ashley Hugill | Ashley Hugill 7-10 Stephen Maguire | |
| Stephen Maguire 10-6 Yuan Sijun | ||||
| 12 | Andrew Higginson 10-7 Duane Jones | Andrew Higginson 8-10 Michael White | Michael White 8-10 Yuan Sijun |
Qualifier 7
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 13 | Louis Heathcote 10-4 Oliver Sykes | Louis Heathcote 10-7 Oliver Lines | Louis Heathcote 10-8 Elliot Slessor | |
| Louis Heathcote 8-10 Stuart Bingham | ||||
| 14 | Stuart Carrington 10-5 Himanshu Jain | Stuart Carrington 10-9 Liam Highfield | Stuart Carrington 9-10 Stuart Bingham |
Qualifier 8
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 15 | Alexander Ursenbacher 10-0 Iulian Boiko | Alexander Ursenbacher 7-10 Anthony Hamilton | Anthony Hamilton 5-10 Robbie Williams | |
| Robbie Williams 10-9 Chris Wakelin | ||||
| 16 | Allan Taylor 10-6 Vladislav Gradinari | Allan Taylor 9-10 Lukas Kleckers | Lukas Kleckers 5-10 Chris Wakelin |
Qualifier 9
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 17 | Marco Fu 10-1 Baipat Siripaporn | Marco Fu 10-6 Ken Doherty | Marco Fu 4-10 Hossein Vafaei | |
| Hossein Vafaei 10-5 Jiang Jun | ||||
| 18 | Jiang Jun 10-6 Amir Sarkhosh | Jiang Jun 10-8 Fan Zhengyi | Jiang Jun 10-8 Sam Craigie |
Qualifier 10
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 19 | Hammad Miah 2-10 Haydon Pinhey | Haydon Pinhey 3-10 Julien Leclercq | Julien Leclercq 1-10 Joe O’Connor | |
| Joe O’Connor 10-8 Matthew Selt | ||||
| 20 | Daniel Womersley w/o Muhammad Asif | Daniel Womersley 3-10 Aaron Hill | Aaron Hill 4-10 Matthew Selt |
Qualifier 11
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 21 | Ma Hailong 10-1 Victor Sarkis | Ma Hailong 10-7 Martin O’Donnell | Ma Hailong 4-10 Cao Yupeng | |
| Cao Yupeng 8-10 Pang Junxu | ||||
| 22 | Oliver Brown 10-0 Reanne Evans | Oliver Brown 10-8 Dylan Emery | Oliver Brown 7-10 Pang Junxu |
Qualifier 12
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 23 | Fergal O’Brien 8-10 Mostafa Dorgham | Mostafa Dorgham 5-10 Graeme Dott | Graeme Dott 5-10 Jackson Page | |
| Jackson Page 10-9 Noppon Saengkham | ||||
| 24 | Long Zehuang 10-1 Sydney Wilson | Long Zehuang 2-10 Andy Hicks | Andy Hicks 5-10 Noppon Saengkham |
Qualifier 13
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 25 | Rod Lawler 10-7 Gong Chenzhi | Rod Lawler 9-10 Ben Mertens | Ben Mertens 9-10 Si Jiahui | |
| Si Jiahui 10-4 Wu Yize | ||||
| 26 | Stan Moody 6-10 Mohamed Shehab | Mohamed Shebab 8-10 Tian Pengfei | Tian Pengfei 8-10 Wu Yize |
Qualifier 14
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 27 | Xing Zihao 10-6 Michael Holt | Xing Zihao 5-10 Daniel Wells | Daniel Wells 8-10 Lyu Haotian | |
| Lyu Haotian 10-7 Jenson Kendrick | ||||
| 28 | Jenson Kendrick 10-7 Bai Yulu | Jenson Kendrick 10-8 Ben Woollaston | Jenson Kendrick 10-5 Jordan Brown |
Qualifier 15
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 29 | Liam Pullen 10-3 Anton Kazakov | Liam Pullen 8-10 Sanderson Lam | Sanderson Lam 2-10 Xiao Guodong | |
| Xiao Guodong 6-10 David Gilbert | ||||
| 30 | Peng Yisong 10-5 Manasawin Phetmalaikul | Peng Yisong 9-10 David Lilley | David Lilley 4-10 David Gilbert |
Qualifier 16
| Route | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 |
| 31 | Mohamed Ibrabim 6-10 Peter Lines | Peter Lines 6-10 Scott Donaldson | Scott Donaldson 10-6 Joe Perry | |
| Scott Donaldson 9-10 Ryan Day | ||||
| 32 | Ashley Carty 10-4 Liam Graham | Ashley Carty 6-10 John Astley | John Astley 6-10 Ryan Day |
Featured photo credit: WST
It was a great finish by Kleckers after Taylor had missed match-ball. He cleared the last 3 reds and colours, playing in an uncharacteristically fluent style. There were a lot of tense matches, where the winners did very well under extreme pressure. Performance of the day was probably He Guoqiang in his first ever World Championship match, who was warmly congratulated by Ross Muir after a very fine and close match.
Are you in the crowd for every day of the qualifiers?
I’ll be here for 8 days. Then I’ll take an early train back to London and watch the Judgement Days at home on Facebook, as the roaming coverage is pretty good. I may be a fanatic, but even I have limits!
I’d have thought those are the best two days to attend but the Judgement Day coverage is a nice change of pace.
I see from your LinkedIn profile you have a job that would presumably offer great flexibility for time off.
I’ve attended the qualifying on two occasions – 2008 and 2019.
I work freelance (my own business). I am usually extremely busy and extremely stressed!) in the second half of the year, but keep it relatively light in the spring.
Your dedication is admirable. I found the bio on your website fascinating reading. I’m pleased you managed to save your eyesight! Your priorities as a snooker viewer certainly mark you out as a rarity in the snooker community.
Thanks for the updates, Lewis. Hope you’re enjoying it.
Highfield another to be relegated from the Tour yesterday.