Two trophies were handed out at the annual WSF Championships on Friday with Bai Yulu and Mykhailo Larkov both landing silverware in Sofia.
The flagship WSF Championship gets under way on Saturday, but before that there was the WSF Women’s Championship and the WSF Junior Championship in Bulgaria.
Bai Yulu extends her winning streak
Bai Yulu has now won 39 matches in a row after storming to victory at the WSF Women’s Championship, where she beat Ng On Yee 4-0 in the final.
Indeed, the reigning women’s world champion didn’t even lose a single frame across the entire ranking tournament.
Success for the 22 year-old, who is undefeated during the ongoing 2025/26 campaign, means that she will become the new world number one in women’s snooker.
Bai topped a round-robin group that included Ng with a perfect record of five wins, all by the scoreline of 2-0.
In the quarter-finals, she comfortably saw off the challenge of Moldovan Alexandra Ceruta before subsequently defeating Narucha Phoemphul 4-0 in the semi-finals.
Ng had reached the final on the back of a brace of victories over Thai opponents, reigning champion Mink Nutcharut and teenager Panchaya Channoi.
But the three-time former women’s world champion couldn’t test Bai, whose dominance on the women’s circuit continued with a fifth title on the trot.
2026 WSF Women’s Championship
Selected Results
Quarter-Finals
Bai Yulu 3-0 Alexandra Ceruta
Narucha Phoemphul 3-2 So Man Yan
Ng On Yee 3-0 Mink Nutcharut
Panchaya Channoi 3-1 Anna Prisjaznuka
Semi-Finals
Bai Yulu 4-0 Narucha Phoempul
Ng On Yee 4-2 Panchaya Channoi
Final
Bai Yulu 4-0 Ng On Yee
Mykhailo Larkov earns professional card
In the WSF Junior Championship, meanwhile, Mykhailo Larkov beat Wang Xinbo 5-2 to win the prestigious international underage amateur event.
With victory, Larkov will receive a two-year card to compete on the professional main tour from the upcoming 2026/27 season.
The 17 year-old from Ukraine emerged unscathed from his round-robin group with a record of three victories and a single defeat.
Contrasting wins then came at the start of the knockout phase, with Larkov thrashed Mikayel Nersisyan in the last 32 before securing a dramatic 4-3 defeat of Ayaan Iqbal in the last 16.
Victories over Wang Xinzhong and Prin Ratmukda followed, before Larkov ended the hopes of another Wang brother in the final – this time the elder Xinbo.
The opening two frames of the final were shared before Larkov won three on the spin to move to within the brink of glory.
Wang kept the match alive with a run of 75 but a break of 60 in the seventh frame sealed the deal for the young Ukraine potter.
Previous winners of the WSF Junior Championship include Gao Yang, Stan Moody, and Bulcsu Revesz.
2026 WSF Junior Championship
Selected Results
Quarter-Finals
Prin Ratmukda 4-2 Riley Powell
Mykhailo Larkov 4-1 Wang Xinzhong
Daniel Boyes 4-0 Wallace Wong
Wang Xinbo 4-3 Joel Connolly
Semi-Finals
Mykhailo Larkov 4-0 Prin Ratmukda
Wang Xinbo 4-0 Daniel Boyes
Final
Mykhailo Larkov 5-2 Wang Xinbo
What’s next in Bulgaria?
The blue-riband WSF Championship is next up, representing arguably the most prestigious international amateur prize to be won in snooker these days.
The tournament runs until February 1 with live coverage available on the WPBSA YouTube channel.
A two-year professional main tour card will be awarded to the champion.
Bai Yulu has improved more than anyone else I’ve seen on the women’s tour ever do in a two year period. She has a very solid all round game now and her opponents don’t. She makes only occasional errors whilst her opponents make several. Ng On Yee was outclassed as comprehensively as a 4-0 scoreline would suggest, and she is a better player now than she used to be when she won 3 women’s world titles and broke Reanne Evan’s monopoly on the game. The double women’s world champion is now also the twin reigning women’s world champion. I personally think that she should concentrate mentally on the main tour and just defend her women’s world title(s) on the women’s tour because she’s outgrown that level and none of her competitors are competitive.