Jimmy White keeps Crucible dream alive with comeback victory at World Championship qualifiers

Snooker legend White was taking part in his 45th World Championship campaign, and once again his legion of fans went through a rollercoaster of emotions, but his and their hopes for a romantic Crucible return later this month remain intact.

The 62-year-old - who has reached the world final on six occasions, but yet to claim the sport's ultimate prize - had to start his latest title tilt in the opening qualifying round, meaning he needs to win four consecutive matches at the English Institute of Sport to qualify for the main draw and televised stages which begin on April 19th.

White was facing 20-year-old Ukrainian amateur Kazakov in professional competition for the first time.

Former World Snooker Federation Junior Champion Kazakov has been a professional before, but was relegated from the top tier last season. However, the youngster received an invite to this year’s qualifiers due to his performances at the 2024 Q School.

Ten-time ranking event winner White began the match as a firm favourite to progress and settled in by winning the opening frame on the final black ball having required a snooker.

However, White lost the second on the black, and bizarrely forfeited the third frame through the lesser seen three consecutive misses rule when he could directly hit a red.

Following that rarity, White bounced back as he took frames either side of the mid-session interval to go back in front. But it was Kazakov who finished the morning session in control after stringing together the final four frames for a 6-3 advantage.

On resumption a few hours later, Kazakov extended his advantage to 7-3 before White began to turn proceedings around.

The former UK and Masters Champion stopped the rot by depositing frame 11, before enjoying his best spell of the contest as he fashioned breaks of 126 and 71 to reduce his arrears to just one at 7-6 down as they headed into their final mid-session interval.

Momentum stayed with White when they returned as he notched up the next two frames - his fifth and sixth consecutively - to reach the hill first at 9-7 up.

Yet if any of White's fans thought the hard work was done, they would be wrong, as there was plenty more drama to come.

Kazakov stopped his opponent's sequence before clearing from yellow to black in frame 18 to win by three points and force a deciding frame.

The 19th and final frame started after midnight and it was White who got in front and created a small lead, although the decider would prove to be a scrappy, lengthy, nervy, but compelling affair.

White managed to pot a tricky mid-distance pink off the final red to lead by 36 points with just 35 on.

However, Kazakov laid a successful snooker - which yielded penalty points - to put the frame back in the balance, but White finally got the job done after some impressive pots on the colours to put an end to the 56-minute decider.

Next up for White is a meeting with Ashley Carty which starts on Friday morning.

The last time White appeared in the main draw at the Crucible was 2006, although he has played at the famous venue several times since in the World Seniors Snooker Championship that he has won there on three occasions in recent years.

Elsewhere during the evening session at the EIOS, Dean Young ended the hopes of 14-year-old Michael Szubarczyk with a 10-8 victory.

Oliver Lines - a semi-finalist at the British Open earlier this season - recovered from 8-3 down against the United Arab Emirates' Mohamed Shehab, winning the final seven frames for a 10-8 victory.

Steven Hallworth, Manasawin Phetmalaikul, Iulian Boiko, Allan Taylor and Julien Leclercq also made it to the next round.

Liam Graham and Fergal Quinn returned for an unscheduled third session having run out of time during the afternoon session.

Runner-up at the Snooker Shoot Out a few months ago, Scotland's Graham recorded a 10-9 win to keep afloat his Championship and pro tour survival hopes. He was 6-2 down in the match.

For all the results and the full draw for the 2025 World Snooker Championship qualifying rounds, please visit our information centre here.