Mark Davis, one of the highest-profile names participating at Q School this year, is already out of Event 1 after losing 4-3 to Oliver Briffett-Payne on Thursday.
Davis is one of the most experienced competitors in the 2026 edition of Q School, which is currently taking place at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
After 35 years as a professional, the 53 year-old officially dropped off the main tour for the first time at the conclusion of the recently ended campaign.
Davis required a strong run at the World Championship to guarantee his spot in the top 64 of the world rankings but exited in the round of 112 to Gao Yang, eventually finishing the term at number 66.
The former world number 12, who contested the English Open final in 2018, would still have been one of the favourites at Q School to secure an immediate return to the pro ranks.
But if Davis had been unaware of the cut-throat nature of the competition, he will certainly understand the severity of the stakes now.
A 4-3 defeat to Briffett-Payne in his first outing at the last 128 means that the former six red world champion will have just one more opportunity to extend his professional tenure when he takes part in Q School Event 2 next week.
Bulcsu Revesz was another fallen pro who suffered a shock loss, the young Hungarian downed 4-2 by veteran 57 year-old Jeff Cundy.
Cundy, a pro in the 1990s and early-2000s, will funnily enough play Davis’ conqueror Briffett-Payne in the next round.
Elsewhere, Pakistani pair Haris Tahir and Farakh Ajaib also crashed out following respective 4-3 losses to Paruke Aierken and Joel Connolly.
There were a few relegated players at the end of the 2025/26 season who survived their opening tests, however.
Robbie McGuigan, Cheung Ka Wai, and Wang Yuchen each recorded 4-0 victories while Allan Taylor and Haydon Pinhey also advanced with 4-2 wins.
Rory McLeod began his quest to return to the World Snooker Tour for the first time since 2022 with a 4-1 defeat of Marc Shaw.
Gerard Greene, Jamie O’Neill, Daniel Womersley, and Umut Dikme were other familiar cueists to reach the last 64.
A total of 156 competitors are at Q School in Leicester this year hoping to bag one of the eight potentially lucrative tickets to compete on the main tour.
Millions of pounds worth of prize money are on offer on the World Snooker Tour – money that snooker fans can only dream of winning at spree casino and other online gaming sites.
There are plenty of other notable names entering the fray on Friday, meanwhile, with the likes of Robert Milkins, Liam Davies, Mitchell Mann, and Duane Jones joining the action.
Peter Lines, Barry Pinches, Andrew Higginson, Sean O’Sullivan, Dean Reynolds, and former world number two Tony Knowles will additionally be involved.
Only the last four standing players at Q School Event 1 will be awarded with coveted two-year tour cards, with a further four then on offer at Q School Event 2.
On Monday in Bangkok, Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon and Deng Haohui became the first Q School graduates on the Asia-Oceania leg of the competition.
Asia-Oceania Q School Event 2 is also ongoing at the moment in Thailand.
The draws for each Q School tournament are available at snooker.org.
Featured photo credit: WST
Jeff Cundy’s highest ranking was 92. His best showing in a ranking event was the last 32 of the 1995 Welsh Open. He was British u-21 champion in 1986.
Cundy made 25 career centuries, with 141 his biggest tournament break.
There is one thing Mark Davies and I may have in common is retiring after 35 consecutive years. No one can give Mark Davies when is the right time, I just want to say I respect him as a professional snooker player.
On a perhaps a trivial matter, Malta, a population similar to Leeds, has three snooker players competing in this Q School. Similar to the English military starting snooker in India, Malta was a British colony and the Maltese took up snooker like cold water on a scorching day. I watched snooker at the local Labour Party club and watching a live professional snooker tournament with Cliff Thorborn and Kirk Stevens. Malta now enjoys snooker halls/academies. Malta and England will always be close as many former English military found their special someone as thousands that found love on holiday from the UK.
Brian Cini won his first match 4-0, Aaron Busuttil won his 1st 4-1 while Joseph Casha lost 1-4.
Brian Cini is at the table tied at 2 with Rodion Judin. Tony Knowles just lost to Sean O’Sullivan 4-0. Tony Knowles is now 70 years old, I am not very spiritual but I must say, God Bless him.
Have a Good Snooker Day
Wow! Liam Davies was good as cooked, down 1-3 to John Pritchett. His early safeties were failing him, but as seems to be the case for Pritchett, he lacks that killer instinct to get the job done. Liam was able to squeeze out a 4-3 win to set up a meeting with Peter Devlin tomorrow.
Robert Milkins had no trouble beating James Silverwood 4-0. I swear Milkins was in a rush to end the match. Siverwood had very little skill on this day and very edgy.