England’s David Gilbert and Iran’s Hossein Vafaei Secure Spots at the World Championship

David Gilbert of England has qualified for the World Championship once again, beating China’s Xiao Guodong 10-6 in the first round. Meanwhile, Si Jiahui of China made a comeback from being 4-0 down to defeat fellow countryman Wu Yize 10-4. Joe O’Connor, who won 10-8 against Matthew Selt in a late match that finished at 23:30 BST, will be the only debutant at this year’s competition.

Iran’s Hossein Vafaei, who is currently ranked number 19 in the world, had a rough start against 18-year-old Jiang Jun from China. However, Vafaei recovered and went on to win 10-5, securing his place at the Crucible for the third consecutive year. Pang Junxu of China also made a successful comeback to the Crucible with a 10-8 victory over compatriot Cao Yupeng. Despite his loss in the qualifiers, Saengkham may still earn the £15,000 high break prize after scoring a maximum 147 break in his third qualifying round match against Andy Hicks.

In the first session of the World Championship Qualifiers, Jones took an early lead with a 5-4 advantage over Robertson. However, Robertson won four frames in a row to put himself within two frames of qualification for the championship. Despite this setback, Jones was able to battle back and ultimately qualify for the championship for the fifth time. The world number 41 expressed his satisfaction with his performance and stated that he believes that playing on this stage brings out the best in him.