Snooker whizzkid impresses on World Championship debut with statement performance

From China, Lan - who doesn’t turn 18-years-old until August - is competing in his rookie season as a professional having earned promotion to snooker’s top-flight through his national tour rankings.

Currently ranked inside the world’s top 100, Lan started his maiden World Championship campaign in the opening qualifying round and must navigate four consecutive hurdles in order to become one of the youngest players ever to perform on the Crucible stage.

Facing fellow tour debutant Chatchapong Nasa from Thailand, Lan went behind early on as his opponent deposited the opening frame with the help of a 58 break, but that would be the only blot on his record from the morning session.

The youngster levelled up in style with an effort of 114 before further runs of 56 and 132 assisted him to a 3-1 mid-session interval lead.

On resumption, Lan continued wearing his scoring boots as breaks of 79, 83, 57, 51 and 81 put him in firm command at 8-1 up.

Returning for the evening’s concluding session, though, Lan was made to wait for his victory as 28-year-old Nasa rallied, taking four of the first five frames - highlighted by runs of 118 and 94 - as he showed his class.

But the overall outcome wasn’t really in much doubt as Lan - who earlier struck an 88 in frame 12 - nearly wrapped up a 10-5 win with a maximum 147 break having potted 14 reds with blacks before his contribution closed on 112.

In total, Lan racked up three centuries and seven further half-centuries during the tie.

Next up for Lan is a meeting with compatriot Fan Zhengyi, with a potential penultimate round encounter with former European Masters winner Jimmy Robertson after that.

Lan can draw inspiration from fellow countryman Zhao Xintong who ran the full gauntlet at last year’s Championship - the same equation he faces this year.

Of course, Zhao was already a former UK Championship winner with several years’ of top tier experience, but had to start from the opening qualifying round as he was returning from his ban from the sport.

The youngest person to play at the Crucible is Luca Brecel, who was only 17 years and 45 days when he faced Stephen Maguire in 2012 in round one proper.

Stephen Hendry still holds the record of being the youngest-ever world professional snooker champion; Hendry was aged 21 years and 106 days when he won the first of his seven world crowns in 1990.

Lan has enjoyed an encouraging rookie term on the World Snooker Tour. He won three matches to reach the last 48 of the Saudi Arabia Masters, and qualified for the main venue stages of the Northern Ireland Open and Scottish Open.

He is guaranteed to be on the circuit again next season as he has a two-year tour card.

First qualifying round complete in Sheffield

The first of nine rounds in the 2026 World Snooker Championship is now completed with the final batch of ties concluded on Wednesday evening at the EIOS.

This season’s Q Tour rankings winner Jamie Clarke is on course for a third Crucible outing as he fashioned a break of 138 in a 10-5 win against Haydon Pinhey.

Another former Crucible qualifier who will be back on the professional scene full-time next season is Ashley Hugill; he crafted a 135 en route to defeating former UK Championship semi-finalist David Grace, 10-4.

Germany’s Umut Dikme also doesn’t currently have a professional tour card, but he too is through to the last 112 following an impressive 10-7 victory over Farakh Ajaib during which he totted up efforts of 86 87, 130, 65, 53, 74, 93, 86 and 59.

Mark Lloyd was another successful amateur as he dismissed Liu Wenwei, 10-3.

Liam Highfield, Fergal Quinn and Zhao Hanyang (115 break) also advanced.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 World Championship qualifying rounds, visit here.