Ukrainian teenager Larkov wins world junior title to join professional snooker ranks

The 17-year-old defeated China’s Wang Xinbo 5-2 in Friday’s final at the Hotel Marinela in Sofia, Bulgaria to earn promotion to the sport’s top flight for the first time with a two-year card for the World Snooker Tour.

A field of 80 players representing 20 different nations took part in this year’s edition. The five-day Championship began with the contestants split into round robin groups of five, with the top two from each pool qualifying for the knockout rounds.

Larkov - a semi-finalist at the opening Q Tour event of this season in Sweden - finished top of Group N with three wins from four matches, including a 3-0 victory over William Thomson that saw him make breaks of 132, 69 and 102.

In the single elimination phase, Larkov rounded off a 4-0 last 32 win over Mikayel Nersisyan (Armenia) with a 101 before coming back from 3-1 down to oust Ayaan Iqbal (Scotland) 4-3 in the last 16.

Next up was 15-year-old Wang Xinzhong (China) in the quarter-finals. Wang made headlines a few months ago at the International Championship professional event, where competing as a wildcard, he defeated tour card holders Bai Yulu and Robbie Williams before narrowly being defeated 6-5 by Shaun Murphy, having crafted two century breaks in the match.

However, efforts of 114 and 73 helped Larkov record a 4-1 win over him to book a ticket for Finals Day in the Bulgarian capital where he dismissed Prin Ratmukda (Thailand) 4-0 with efforts of 67 and 52.

Emerging from the other side of the drawsheet was 18-year-old Wang Xinbo, the older brother of quarter-finalist Xinzhong.

Xinbo - who has featured at several top tier events on home soil this season as a wildcard - ended the groups stage with a perfect record, winning all four fixtures 3-0 before continuing his unblemished record with a 4-0 victory in the last 32.

He dropped his first frame of the event in the last 16 to Vladislav Gradinari (Moldova) where he won 4-1, but was severely tested in the last eight as he pipped Joel Connolly (Northern Ireland) 4-3, having to take the final two frames to keep his title chances alive.

Wang had a much more comfortable time in the semi-finals as he compiled breaks of 52, 54, 62 and 80 in a 4-0 success over Daniel Boyes (England).

In the final, Larkov made a 67 en route to claiming the opening frame before Wang levelled up following a run of 77.

Larkov then strung together three frames in-a-row (50 break, frame four) to go one away from glory at 4-1 up.

A 75 aided Wang in frame six to reduce his arrears, but Larkov completed the task in the next, having earlier produced a contribution of 60.

In this the sixth staging of the WSF Junior Championship, Larkov is the second Ukrainian to lift the trophy, following in the footsteps of fellow countryman Anton Kazakov who triumphed in 2022.

Should Larkov accept the professional tour card and take his place on the circuit later this year, he would join compatriot Iulian Boiko who was a semi-finalist at the Snooker Shoot Out in December.

Runner-up Wang can still gain promotion to the World Snooker Tour for next season. As well as being involved in the ‘Open’ WSF Championship which starts at the same venue on Saturday, he is currently well-placed in the Chinese domestic rankings, with that circuit also providing a pathway to the professional ranks.

Elsewhere on Friday in Sofia, Bai won the WSF Women’s Championship after defeating Ng On Yee 4-0 in the final.

The result was the 22-year-old’s 39th consecutive match win on the World Women’s Snooker Tour and pushed her up to world number one on the women’s scene for the first time in her career.

For results from the WSF Championships, visit snookerscores.net here.