Teenage snooker sensation Michal Szubarczyk falls just short of record win at World Championship qualifiers

Szubarczyk - who turned 14 in January - created history by becoming the youngest player ever to compete in a World Snooker Championship match.

The teenager from Poland earned an invite to this year's blue riband event due to winning the recent European Under-18 Snooker Championship held in Türkiye.

Later during his stay in Antalya, Szubarczyk reached the final of the open-age European Amateur Snooker Championship - a prestigious competition previously won by players such as Mark Allen and Luca Brecel.

He lost 5-0 to Liam Highfield in the title fixture, but as his final opponent had already won a Global Q Tour Playoff event several days earlier at the venue, it meant that Szubarczyk claimed a two-year professional card for the World Snooker Tour.

It is yet unknown whether the 14-year-old and his family will accept the card, but should he do so, he would become the sport's youngest-ever professional player.

With that to one side for the moment, Szubarczyk got a taste of snooker's premier circuit when he faced world number 97 Young from Scotland on Tuesday at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

Twenty-three-year-old Young - who made the last 32 of his home event the Scottish Open earlier this season - began the contest powerfully as breaks of 55, 126 and 106 helped him establish a 4-0 lead.

Following the interval, though, Szubarczyk managed to get a foothold in the contest, taking three of the next four frames to move to within two of his opponent at 5-3 down, although Young deposited the final frame of the morning session to lead 6-3.

On resumption in the evening, Szubarczyk battled back after Young won the first of the second session, claiming four of the next five frames - compiling his second and third half-century breaks of the tie in the process - to be only one behind at 8-7 down.

However, Young won frames 16 and 18 to avoid a deciding frame and an upset, to advance into the second qualifying round where he is set to meet another teenager in the form of Stan Moody on Friday morning.

It was a fine effort from Szubarczyk, who was trying to eclipse Liam Davies' record as the youngest player to win a World Snooker Championship match.

Wales' Davies achieved that feat in 2022 as a 15-year-old when he defeated Aaron Hill 6-4 in the opening qualifying round.

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