Q School elimination for Anthony Hamilton, long streak on the professional snooker tour now over
For the first time since his debut on the sport’s top tier in 1991, Anthony Hamilton will not feature on the professional snooker circuit next season following a 4-2 defeat to Umut Dikme at event two of the ongoing 2025 UK Q School in Leicester.
Winner of the German Masters in 2017 and an elite top 16 player for several seasons - with a career-high ranking of number ten - 53-year-old Hamilton was relegated from the professional ranks last month when he lost 10-3 to Matthew Selt in the penultimate round of qualifying for the 2025 World Snooker Championship.
That loss meant that Hamilton’s final hopes of preserving his 34-year unbroken streak on snooker’s highest level came virtue of this year’s UK Q School which was being held at the Mattioli Arena, with the opportunity of bouncing straight back.
Q School is open to any amateur player in the world. Each year there are editions held in the Asia-Oceania region, and in the United Kingdom.
At this year’s UK version, there are two straight knockout events - one held after the other - with the semi-finalists of each event each winning two-year tour cards for the professional World Snooker Tour. All matches are the best of seven frames.
At event one, Hamilton - who has been struggling with ailments in recent times - defeated Richard Binns (4-2, from 2-0 down) and Gary Thomson (4-2) before bowing out to Patrick Whelan 4-2 in the last 32.
Last chance saloon arrived at event two, where Hamilton got the better of Luke Pinches - son of former professional Barry - 4-2 in his opening assignment.
However, Hamilton's hopes were dashed in the next round as he was defeated by Germany's Dikme, 4-2, on Friday afternoon.
25-year-old Dikme - an event winner on the UK/Europe Q Tour in the past - narrowly missed out on obtaining a professional tour card for the first time in his career a few days earlier during event one, where he lost 4-2 to Liam Pullen in the final round.
With no other avenues now available to Hamilton for an immediate return, he will not be a professional tour card holder for the upcoming 2025/26 season which starts in the second half of June.
Having been downbeat about his game in recent times, it is unclear whether Hamilton will now retire from competitive snooker, or whether he will opt to feature on the amateur scene next season, perhaps in a bid to win back his professional stripes.
The seniors circuit is another option for the Englishman if he wants to continue to whet his appetite for competition; fellow ranking event winners Joe Perry and Dominic Dale recently retired from the professional tour but played in the latest World Seniors Snooker Championship at the Crucible.
One of the most popular players on the snooker scene, Hamilton ended his long wait for a ranking event crown when he memorably defeated Ali Carter 9-6 in the final at the atmospheric Tempodrom in Berlin in 2017 to win the German Masters. At the time, he was the oldest ranking event winner for 28 years.
Hamilton had previously been very close to ranking glory earlier in his career, losing 9-7 to Fergal O'Brien in the final of the British Open in April 1999, and even more agonisingly being pipped 9-8 by Mark Williams in the final of the 2002 China Open in Shanghai - having led the title match 8-5.
Because of those near misses and his advancing years in the sport, Hamilton's victory in Germany was a particularly emotional and heart-warming one.
Elsewhere at Q School, snooker legends Tony Knowles and Dean Reynolds - who each last held professional status in 2001 - were both unable to secure a romantic return to the premier scene.
For results from the 2025 UK Q School, visit the World Snooker Tour website here.