Ukrainian youngster Anton Kazakov creates snooker history with European title double

The 21-year-old was no stranger to claiming a big, international title from snooker’s secondary circuit; in 2022 in Sheffield, England, Kazakov won the World Snooker Federation Junior Championship, an achievement that earned him promotion to the professional circuit for the first time.

Being so young, and from outside of the United Kingdom, Kazakov understandably struggled during his initial two-year stint on snooker’s top flight - failing to get past the last 64 of a ranking event, and being relegated from the circuit in the spring of 2024.

Since then, Kazakov twice attended Q School in an attempt to re-earn his pro stripes, but was unable to graduate. He has also competed on the Q Tour, but didn’t make a quarter-final from 11 outings over the past two seasons on it.

However, everything has clicked for him over the past fortnight at the Palace Hotel in Gandia, Spain - the first time that the country has hosted a European Billiards and Snooker Association (EBSA) event - as he completed an unprecedented back-to-back double.

It began for him in the under-21 championship that featured 100 entrants representing 30 different nations.

Kazakov won his group with a 100% match-winning record to qualify for the knockout phase where he eliminated Lorcain O'Curraoin (Ireland) 4-0, Jack Borwick (Scotland) 4-2, Vladislav Gradinari (Moldova) 4-0, Erik Nagy (Hungary) 4-3, and Sebastian Milewski (Poland) 4-1 to reach the final.

In the title match, opponent Riley Powell from Wales got off to a brilliant start as breaks of 88 and 68 helped put him 2-0 up. However, Kazakov took five of the next six frames for a 5-3 victory to claim the continental title and a two-year professional tour card that starts later this year.

It also meant that the crown stayed in Ukraine, as Kazakov followed in the footsteps of fellow countryman Iulian Boiko who was the 2025 champion in Türkiye. Kazakov is set to join Boiko, and another compatriot in Michal Larkov - winner of this year’s WSF Junior Championship - on the World Snooker Tour in the coming months.

Historic junior and amateur championship double for Kazakov

Kazakov elected to stay and play in the main European Amateur Snooker Championship at the same venue. This year’s bumper field featured over 170 entrants from 40 different nations.

Again, the youngster won all three of his round robin matches to qualify for the knockouts where he dispatched Arsenii Korolev (Bulgaria) 4-0, former pros Simon Lichtenberg (Germany) 4-1 and Peter Lines (England) 4-3, Gradinari 4-1, and then former Snooker Shoot Out champion, and two-time winner of this title, Robin Hull (Finland) 4-2 in the semi-finals, finishing with a run of 140. That effort would be the highest break of the tournament.

Emerging from the other side of the draw was 20-year-old Englishman Oliver Sykes, who also reached the showpiece fixture with a 100% record.

Sykes dispatched ex-main tour exponents Andres Petrov (winner of this crown in 2022) and Ashley Carty in the knockouts, and Germany's Umut Dikme 4-1 in the last four. Dikme is the number one player from the latest Q School top-up list.

Due to Kazakov already having won his tour card through his triumph in the junior event a few days before, it meant that Sykes was guaranteed to win the available professional ticket attached to the main European amateur event - regardless of the outcome in the final.

A similar situation occurred at last year's final between Liam Highfield and Michal Szubarczyk.

The realisation of earning promotion to snooker's big time will have been a very sweet one for Sykes, who narrowly missed out on a card last year when he was pipped 5-4 by Boiko in the junior final.

Both Kazakov and Sykes went into the final without the pressure of needing to win for a tour card, but they were still competing for one of the most prestigious titles in amateur snooker, which was first won in 1988.

Sykes twice led early on (65 break, frame three) but was pegged back each time.

A 72 from Kazakov aided him in taking the lead for the first time at 3-2 up, but Sykes levelled following an effort of 67, and was first to reach the hill at 4-3 ahead.

But Kazakov was not to be denied an historic double; he made a 60 in frame eight on his way to restoring parity and force a deciding frame which he won for a 5-4 victory.

He is the first Ukrainian to win the title; he was also the first to appear in the final. In total, Kazakov won 18 out of 18 matches across both competitions in Spain.

Never before has the same player won both the European junior and main amateur championship titles within the same calendar year.

Mark Allen held both crowns concurrently but won the amateur title in 2004, and the junior (under-19s at the time) title in 2005. Future world professional champion Luca Brecel also won both categories in successive years (the other way round to Allen), although didn’t hold both titles at the same time.

In 2022, Belgium’s Ben Mertens nearly did the impressive double within the same year, winning the under-21 title but losing 5-3 to Petrov in the amateur final.

Since 2016, both the European junior and amateur events have been held at the same venue during the same trip.

Earlier during the green baize festival in Gandia, Poland's Krzysztof Czapnik won the under-16 title (defeated Tadija Matijasevic 4-2 in the final) and current professional player Szubarczyk successfully defended the under-18 accolade (defeated Gradinari 4-0 in the final).

For news and the full results from Gandia, visit the EBSA website here.