History! 15-year old becomes youngest winner at Snooker World Championships

The Snooker World Championships started in full force on Easter Monday, and the first qualifying round has already seen a bunch of interesting matches and results.

Poland's teenage star Michal Szubarczyk made history right off the bat by becoming the youngest winner of a Snooker World Championship match. The records will now show how he defeated Honk Kong's Onyee Ngin 10-7 on the 6th of April 2026.

Szubarczyk was 15 years, 2 months and 25 days old at the time of his biggest career moment so far. The Pole started his snooker journey in the limelight at only 14 years of age, so this wasn't even his first rodeo on a big snooker stage.

He takes the record from Welshman (or should we say boy) Liam Davies who was also only 15 for his maiden victory at snooker's biggest event. Davies is fondly remembered by snooker fans worldwide for receiving a wildcard invite to the televised Snooker Shootout at the tender age of 12.

Poland's biggest snooker hope, Szubarcszyk has set the youth ranks alight by taking victory at the Under-16 and Under-18 European Championship level across this Spring. Perhaps more importantly though, his appearance at the adult Snooker European Championship final gave him a ticket to this year's World Tour, as his opponent on the day Liam Highfield had already earned his ticket in another manner.

The youngster was understandably ecstatic after his historic achievement:

"I'm extremely proud and excited for the upcoming games. Perhaps this or next year I can become the youngest player at the Crucible."

He continued for WST: "To reach the Crucible is the first of many goals in my professional career. I've dreamed of it for six years now."

The Pole faces England's Sanderson Lam in the second qualifying round.



Monday's qualifiers also saw another notable moment, as reigning Women's World Champion Bai Yulu defeated Daniel Womersley 10-7. Bai played out a strong match, scoring a highest break of 101 in the process.

This meant she became the first woman in 9 years to win a Snooker World Championship match. Previously Reanne Evans managed this feat in 2017, defeating Robin Hull of Finland.

Bai will meet the experienced Michael Holt in the second qualifying round.

In sadder news, The Whirlwind Jimmy White took another devastating loss to end his run at the World Championships at a respectable 63 years old. He was defeated 9-10 in dramatic fashion by Gao Yang, who is 42 years his junior.

The deciding frame was particularly heart-stopping action, with White managing to find a desperately needed snooker on the final green ball, but failing to clinch victory due to two misses on guilt-edged opportunities on the brown ball. Gao made no mistake from the easy opportunity left by White's second miss, advancing further in the tournament.

The Snooker World Championship qualifying rounds continue on Tuesday with the rest of the first round matches. Below you can find all of Monday's results, along with the scores and schedule for the rest of the first round.






Source: WST