Liam Davies Secures Professional Status with European Under-21 Title
Liam Davies defeated Antoni Kowalski 5-3 in the final of the EBSA European Under-21 Championship in Bosnia & Herzegovina to earn a two-year World Snooker Tour card.
The success in Sarajevo means that the 17-year old will compete as a professional on the main tour for the first time in his career from the 2024/25 season.
He will also play in the upcoming Cazoo World Championship qualifying rounds as a result of this victory – an event where in 2022 he set the record as the youngest player ever to win a match.
Davies had come agonisingly close to securing professional status just a few days earlier in the WPBSA Q Tour Global play-offs, held alongside the EBSA European Championships, having led fellow Welshman Duane Jones 9-7 before losing the contest in a deciding frame.
The teenager showed his fighting spirit to quickly move on from the disappointment and charge through the field to earn a coveted two-year World Snooker Tour card.
Having qualified from the group phase comfortably, Davies then overcame the newly-crowned EBSA European Under-16 champion Vladislav Gradinari 4-1 in the last 32.
Further victories against Thijs Pauwels and Andrejs Pripjoks then set up a semi-final meeting with Latvian teenager Artemijs Zizins.
A break of 100 from Davies in the second frame restored parity after Zizins had taken the opener, and the Welshman looked firmly in the ascendacy as he moved one away from victory at 3-1.
The Latvian cueist refused to go down without a fight, however, and fired in a stunning break of 128 to force a decider before Davies finally managed to get over the line and set up a title match against Poland’s Kowalski.
The first six frames of the final were shared between the two players in the best-of-nine frame contest but the class of the Welsh teenager showed as he held himself together to secure the title with a 5-3 victory.
“For the last few balls I was just trying to concentrate on hitting the white, my arm was shaking that much,” admitted Davies after the final. “It means so much to me to finally get on the tour, having missed a few chances over the last two years. I think I am ready for it now. I have had so much support from my mum, dad and brother so I’m happy just to give something back to them.”
The Under-16 and Under-18 events have already reached their conclusion in Sarajevo, with 15-year-old Gradinari from Moldova lifting the Under-16 crown while the recent WSF Junior champion Bulcsu Revesz added to his trophy cabinet with a dominant victory in the Under-18 Championship.
