BARRY SNOOKER player Alfie Davies has failed in his bid to obtain coveted professional status during recent leading amateur tournaments staged at the Palace Hotel in Gandia, Spain.
Last week, Davies, 25, was one of 172 players who took part in the EBSA European Amateur Championship, where the winner received a two-year professional tour card.
Davies began the round robin group stage strongly as a top break of 53 helped him round off a 3-0 victory over former Finland amateur champion Patrick Tiihonen.
In his next match, Davies recovered from 2-1 behind to force a decider against reigning Swiss amateur champion Alain Vergere, but he went on to lose 3-2.
Davies raised his game considerably against Italy’s Victor Palomba, where breaks of 74 and 70 saw him go 2-0 in front, and he added runs of 58 and 60 in the following frame to complete a 3-0 whitewash, meaning he had done enough to secure his progression to the knockout phase.
A top break of 51 helped Davies to a 3-1 win against former Bulgarian amateur champion Velian Dimitrov in the last 96, but he came unstuck in the following round against 17-year-old Moldovan, Vladislav Gradinari, who made breaks of 78, 57 and 55 en route to a 4-1 victory.
Gradinari is widely regarded as one of snooker’s brightest young prospects. In January 2023, at the age of just 14 years and three months, he became the youngest player in history to win a televised match at a ranking event when he beat Ng On-Yee in the opening round of the single-frame BetVictor Shoot-Out, and he then went one better by defeating Victor Sarkis in the following round.
The EBSA European Championship concluded on Saturday and was won by Ukrainian Anton Kazakov, who came from 4-3 behind to beat Oliver Sykes 5-4 in the final.
Days earlier, Kazakov won the EBSA European Under 21 Championship at the same venue, which also carried a two-year professional tour card for the winner, so runner-up Sykes received the tour place on offer for this event.
Davies then turned his attention to the Q Tour Play-Off. During the regular season, Davies took part in Q Tour Europe, which consisted of seven tournaments played at venues throughout Britain and the continent between August and March.
The player that finished top of the Order of Merit received a two-year professional tour card, while the next 16 players participated in an end-of-season play-off in Gandia featuring competitors from Q Tour Europe and the equivalent series in Asia, where a further three tour cards were up for grabs.
Davies secured his place in the play-off earlier this month when he reached the final of event 7 at Landywood Snooker Club, Walsall, where he lost 4-2 to 31-year-old former professional, Ashley Hugill from York.
Davies needed to win three consecutive matches in the play-off to obtain a tour card. In his opening encounter, he made a break of 67 to level at 3-3 against former professional Sean O’Sullivan, and he added a 60 in the next to go within a frame of victory, before coming through a more tactical eighth frame to secure the win.
Next up came another clash with Hugill, where breaks of 68 and 52 helped Davies go 3-1 in front, but he then lost five frames in a row as Hugill made a top run of 104 and two other half-centuries to complete a 6-3 victory.
Hugill went on to secure a professional tour card following his 10-5 win over Mark Joyce. The other two players to obtain professional tour places through the play-off were Ashley Carty, who was relegated at the end of last season, and Craig Steadman, who at 43 returns to the pro ranks for a fourth spell.
Davies’ next opportunity to obtain a professional tour place will come at the cut-throat Q School in May, where anybody can pay a fee in the region of £1,000 in the hope of earning one of the eight two-year tour cards on offer.
If the format is to remain the same as in recent years, Davies will have to win five matches in a row to come through the process. Matches will be played over the best-of-seven frames throughout, meaning players have little time to settle in and can pay a heavy price for getting off to a poor start.
Should Davies succeed in earning a tour card, he will follow in the footsteps of his father, Anthony, who held professional status between 1991-2005, where he reached a high of 26 in the world rankings.
By Marcus Stead – News Reporter
Read Alfie Davies’ previous stories:
- Alfie Davies continues fine run
- Barry’s Alfie takes Welsh snooker title
- Alfie starts 2025 in fine form
- Crucial week for Barry snooker player Alfie
- Agonising defeat in Bulgarian final for Alfie
- Alfie plans to follow in his father’s footsteps
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