Polish 15-year-old Michal Szubarczyk continued his fairytale World Snooker Championship Qualifying run with a thrilling 10-8 defeat of Sanderson Lam at the English Institute of Sport.
Round one saw Szubarczyk defeat former Women’s World Champion Ng On Yee and become the youngest ever match winner in the World Championship. He’s now two wins away from the Crucible, where he could make further history.
Luca Brecel was 17 in 2012 when he became the youngest ever player to compete at the Theatre of Dreams. Szubarczyk must now beat Iran’s Hossein Vafaei to make it to Judgement Day and move one game away from the final stages.
Impressively, Szubarczyk never trailed for the entire match as his more experienced opponent struggled to get a foothold. However, he couldn’t completely shrug Lam off and the match came right down to the business end.
At 9-8 up and trailing 63-0, he summoned a sublime clearance of 64 to steal and earn his place in round three. Next up for Szubarczyk is Iran’s Hossein Vafaei.
The bright future for Polish snooker was further emphasised by Antoni Kowalski’s crushing 10-1 win over Englishman Connor Benzey.
Kowalski had to win to retain hopes of remaining on the circuit and he did just that with a crucial victory. He now faces Joe O’Connor for a Judgement Day slot.
Afterwards, Kowalski was full of pride for representing his country on the world stage and declared that he was confident of Polish success in the short and long term.
“I think there will be at least one player at the Crucible this year from Poland,” proclaimed 22-year-old Kowalski.
“Poland is slowly getting on the map in the snooker world. I’m very proud of myself that I’m producing results for my country. There are also some really good amateur players from Poland who could turn professional at any time.
“There are four matches to get to the Crucible here and this is the only time I will ever think that the Crucible isn’t that relevant. I just want to keep my tour card. I can’t imagine myself being an amateur again. This is my dream life and I don’t want to lose it.”
ROUND TWO RESULTS: Robbie McGuigan (Eng) bt Gong Chenzi (Chn) 10-7; Yao Pengcheng (Chn) bt David Lilley (Eng) 10-5; Wang Xinbo (Chn) Julian Boiko (Ukr) 10-4; MIchael Holt (Eng) bt Bai Yulu (Chn) 10-4; Gao Yang (Chn) bt Mark Davis (Eng) 10-6; Michal Szubarczyk (Pol) bt Sanderson Lam (Eng) 10-8; Dylan Emery (Eng) bt Artemijs Zizins (Lat) 10-6; Patrick Whelan (Eng) bt Robert Milkins (Eng) 10-3; Jamie Jones (Wal) bt Vladislav Gradinari (Mdv) 10-3; Leone Crowley (Ire) bt Duane Jones (Wal) 10-5; Jiang June (Chn) bt Ashley Carty (Eng) 10-3; Antoni Kowalski (Pol) bt Connor Benzey (Eng) 10-1; Liam Pullen (Eng) bt Amir Sarkosh Egy) 10-7; Ricky Walden (Eng) bt Mateusz Baranowski (Pol) 10-4; Robbie Williams (Eng) bt Ross Muir (Sco) 10-4; Peter Lines (Eng) bt Scott Donaldson (Sco) 10-8;
