Teenage sensation Michal Szubarczyk was beaming with joy after becoming the youngest-ever winner of a World Snooker Championship match on Monday.
Aged just 15 years, two months, and 25 days, the Polish prodigy beat the previous record that was set by Liam Davies in 2022.
Szubarczyk produced a fine display on day one of the World Championship qualifiers to see off the challenge of the vastly experienced Hong Kong cueist, Ng On Yee.
Ng had come into this year’s World Championship in Sheffield in a hot run of form having claimed back-to-back glories on the World Women’s Snooker Tour in February and March.
Szubarczyk got off to the best possible start by making breaks of 69, 52, and 74 to orchestrate an early 3-0 advantage, only for Ng to quickly respond by taking the next three.
A run of 56 then sparked a five-frame winning burst for the former as he pulled away to establish a commanding 8-3 cushion.
Ng fought back strongly and won four out the following five frames to get back within striking distance, but Szubarczyk held his nerve to eventually win 10-7.
“I feel very proud,” Michal Szubarczyk, who meets Sanderson Lam in the second round, told the World Snooker Tour.
“I’m very excited to play the next match, and maybe this year or next year, I can become the youngest Crucible player.”
“For me, it’s the first goal of every player in professional snooker [to play in the World Championship]. I’m enjoying the pressure. It doesn’t work in a bad way for me.
“I even like it, and I think that’s good. For the last six years, I have been dreaming about playing at the Crucible.
“I love representing Poland. Without the Polish events I wouldn’t be here, because I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to play at European or World Championships.”
Szubarczyk is no stranger to breaking records after becoming the youngest-ever professional player when he started the 2025/26 campaign, aged just 14.
If he is to become the youngest-ever qualifier for the Crucible Theatre, he will have to emerge from the preliminary competition either this year or next.
That record is currently held by Luca Brecel, who made his Crucible debut in 2012 aged 17 years and 45 days.
Szubarczyk has to win three more matches this year to surpass the Belgian, and he might well fancy his chances of going a bit further.
While Lam represents another experienced competitor to overcome, the Leeds potter will have enormous pressure on his shoulders with his own tour survival on the line.
Lam is provisionally 66th on the end-of-season rankings list and would be relegated from the World Snooker Tour if he were to lose to Szubarczyk, with just the top 64 guaranteed of their place for next season.
Mitchell Mann was among the players who suffered relegation on Monday – the former Crucible qualifier bowing out in disappointing fashion through a 10-4 loss to amateur Wang Xinbo.
Huang Jiahao and Jonas Luz were also sent packing from the World Snooker Tour after respective defeats to Leone Crowley and Peter Lines.
Szubarczyk won’t have to worry about any of that yet with another season on his first two-year card still to come.
Featured photo credit: WST
