Iulian Boiko won a dramatic 2025 European Under-21 Snooker Championship final with a 5-4 defeat of Oliver Sykes in Turkiye on Monday.
The 19 year-old prevailed from a topsy-turvy encounter that went all the way to the ninth and final frame in Antalya.
After the opening two frames of the contest were shared, Boiko won the next couple to establish a 3-1 advantage.
England’s Sykes then responded with three frames on the spin to move to within the brink of glory.
Boiko subsequently compiled a break of 63 to force the deciding frame, which the 19 year-old duly won to seal the prestigious international amateur title.
With the success, Boiko will receive a two-year card to compete on the World Snooker Tour for the upcoming 2025/26 and 2026/27 seasons.
The Ukrainian previously held a tour card between 2020 and 2022, reaching a career-high position of 90 in the world rankings.
Despite being relegated from the professional circuit, Boiko continued to participate regularly in events as a Q School top-up having lost in the final round of the latter competition in both 2023 and 2024.
He made an appearance in the last 16 of the 2023 Snooker Shoot Out, his best run in a ranking event to date.
Boiko will have several more opportunities to challenge the elite of the sport having secured the biggest title of his career so far.
The teenager emerged from the initial round-robin phase of the 2025 European Under-21 Championship with a perfect record of three wins from three matches.
That took him straight through to the last 32 of the knockout stages, where he first overcame Maksim Kostov with a 4-1 scoreline.
Glories over Russian Arsenii Korolev and countryman Mykhailo Larkov followed before Boiko ousted Joel Connelly 4-1 in the semi-finals.
Sykes had looked strong in the latter rounds of the competition, easily beating Filips Kalnins and Anton Kazakov in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively.
But the 19 year-old ultimately fell just short and will have to look elsewhere for his promotion to the main tour.
Boiko’s other reward is a ticket to participate in the World Snooker Championship qualifiers next month in Sheffield.
Next up in Turkiye is the flagship European Championship, where the winner will also be offered a potentially lucrative two-year pro card.
2025 European Under-21 Championship
Selected Results
Last 16
Filips Kalnins 4-3 Michal Szubarczyk
Oliver Sykes 4-2 Sion Stuart
Anton Kazakov 4-2 Aidan Murphy
Sebastian Milewski 4-3 Krzysztof Czapnik
Joel Connolly 4-0 Oliver Briffett-Payne
Vladislav Gradinari 4-0 Westley Cooper
Iulian Boiko 4-1 Arsenii Korolev
Mykhailo Larkov 4-1 Kaylan Patel
Quarter-Finals
Oliver Sykes 4-1 Filips Kalnins
Anton Kazakov 4-0 Sebastian Milewski
Joel Connolly 4-2 Vladislav Gradinari
Iulian Boiko 4-2 Mykhailo Larkov
Semi-Finals
Oliver Sykes 4-0 Anton Kazakov
Iulian Boiko 4-1 Joel Connolly
Final
Iulian Boiko 5-4 Oliver Sykes
Featured photo credit: WPBSA
