Milkins Meltdown and 15-year old sensation headline day 4 of snooker WC qualifiers

The Snooker World Championship 2026 qualifiers continued in Sheffield on Thursday with second round fixtures that brought a hefty surprise to many. The experienced ranking title winner Robert Milkins fell 10-3 to amateur status player Patrick Whelan.

Sadly for Milkins, this was a required win for him to continue his journey on the professional Tour, so the pressure was truly on. Visibly frustrated, Milkins even resorted to smashing the balls around the table in anger and desperation during a stress-laden first session.

Following his defeat, Milkins is now out of the professional tour for the season. This comes as a massive surprise, as only as recently as 2022/2023 he took victory at the Welsh Open along with a Home Nations bonus of 150 000 pounds.

Whelan's victory wasn't the only eye-catching moment of day 4. 15-year old teenage sensation Michal Szubarczyk took his second victory of the qualifiers, defeating Sanderson Lam 10-8.

As is to be expected, the youngster will face an even tougher test next in the form of Hossein Vafaei of Iran, while Whelan faces Welshman Jackson Page. Neither of the surprise packages of the qualifiers so far should stand a chance in the third round, but with the magic of Sheffield already showing up in full force, anything is possible.

Below you can find the results and live scores of the second round in the World Championship qualifiers, which will last four rounds in total. The Snooker World Championship proper begins on Saturday 18th of April.