BARRY SNOOKER PLAYER Alfie Davies is taking part in one of the most important events of his career this week as he aims to obtain coveted professional status by coming through the gruelling Q School competition at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
Davies, 23, is one of 167 players from 26 countries who each paid the £800 entry fee in the hope of earning one of the eight professional tour cards on offer, which will be valid for the next two seasons.
There is only room for 128 players on the professional tour at any one time, and Q School consists of two tournaments which are played to the quarter-final stage, with the four winners earning a two-year professional tour card.
Due to his success in the amateur ranks, Davies enters both Q School events at the second round stage, meaning he needs to win six matches in a row to earn a place among the professionals.
If Davies succeeds, he will follow in the footsteps of his father Anthony, who played on the professional tour between 1991-2005 and reached a high of 26 in the world rankings.
In the first event last week, Davies made breaks of 64 and 52 on his way to a 4-1 victory over former European Under 17 champion Mark Lloyd, but he had a nightmare experience in his next match against Polish youngster Antoni Kowalski, who won the World Under 16 title in 2019.
Davies led the first-to-four frame encounter 3-1, and in the fifth, he left his opponent requiring a snooker, but Kowalski got it and cleared the table to take the frame by a single point, and he went on to win the following two frames to complete a 4-3 victory.
The agonising defeat came just five days after Davies lost 8-6 to Alex Taubman in the final of the Welsh Amateur Championship at Penygraig Sports and Community Club. In the semi-finals, Davies had beaten former world number eight Darren Morgan 6-3, but he went on to lose in the final for the second year in a row.
Davies appeared to have put last week’s disappointments behind him during his opening match in Q School event 2 on Monday, where a top break of 108 in the penultimate frame helped him to a 4-1 victory over former England junior international Matthew Glasby.
In his third round match yesterday morning (30th May), breaks of 73 and 51 helped Davies to a 4-0 whitewash over Gary Milne, winner of the Yorkshire Snooker Championship in 2022.
Davies now needs to win a further four matches in a row to earn professional status. In his next match on Friday morning (31st May), Davies faces Simon Blackwell, a 31-year-old from Lancashire who came into Q School following a strong season on the English amateur circuit.
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