The 2024 (UK/Europe) Q-School 1 is into its round 2 now. You can follow all the scores and results on snooker.org. I won’t at this stage try to analyse all the results.

One player involved in this competition is Iulian Boiko who came mighty close to regain his tour card on several occasions over the last two years, but without success so far. Iulian was far too young when he got on tour and the terrible situation his country, Ukraine, is facing can’t have helped the very young man to focus on his snooker. But, if this report by WST is anything to go by, Iulian is maturing and taking the right steps to get his career back on track.

BOIKO SEEKS IMPROVEMENT WITH DOHERTY’S HELP

Iulian Boiko has enlisted the help of former Crucible king Ken Doherty to improve his game as he bids for a successful Q School campaign – and the Ukrainian started strongly with a 4-1 victory over James Burrett.

Boiko, age 18, played on the pro tour from 2020 to 2022 and has since been trying to regain his card. Last year he came so close at Q School, losing in the final round of both events, and the talented teenager remains determined to go one step further this time and then fulfil his huge potential among the pro ranks. He recently approached 1997 World Champion Doherty, a master of the tactical side of snooker, with the intention to develop his all-round game. 

“I started working with Ken before the World Championship and I have learned a lot in the last month,” said Boiko, who knocked in breaks of 113 and 66 today as he set up a match with Andres Petrov. “Ken is a legend, he has given me advice and my brain has changed in terms of the way I see the game and which shots I take on. I got in touch with him because I felt I was struggling – I was playing well but not getting results and I was looking for the reason. I am always looking for ways to improve, because you can never say you are good enough. He is helping me with risk management and shot selection but also splitting the balls and positional play. I feel more confident now and we’ll see how it goes this week.”

Florian Nuessle was another who came agonisingly close last year, losing 4-3 to Dean Young in the final round. The Austrian got off and running today with a 4-1 win over Gary Milne.

“The pressure can prevent you from playing well,” said Nuessle “There is a lot at stake and everyone knows that. It’s career changing if you get through – that’s what we are here for. It’s nothing like other amateur events. Losing in the final round last year was my toughest week as a snooker player – nothing has hurt me as much. I was so close, and I felt I was able to get through because I was ready. But I couldn’t do it, and that’s something I have to learn. There will be more situations to come and those are only going to make me stronger.” 

Mark Joyce enjoyed a 4-1 win over Ian Martin while Liam Highfield saw off Callum Beresford 4-0. Peter Devlin made a 115 in a 4-2 win over Peng Yisong. Oliver Brown suffered a surprise 4-1 defeat against South Korea’s Lee Deagyu, while Germany’s Umut Dikme saw off Oliver Sykes 4-2. Ng On Yee lost 4-1 to Josh Mulholland while James Cahill went down 4-2 to Simon Blackwell. 

I have said this before and I haven’t changed my mind about it: there should be a minimal age to turn pro and it should be (at least) 18. That’s the “official” age internationally accepted marking the transition from “child” to “young adult”. Of course it’s not a switch you turn on from one day to the other.Growing up is a gradual process and it is/was different for everyone of us but laws can’t take every individual into account and 18 has been perceived as a reasonable milestone covering the majority of the cases. I know that Shaun Murphy will disagree, claiming that if you are good enough, you are old enough. Maybe that’s true if you have the close support of your family to get you through the inevitable crises. However most non British players don’t have their families with them and, once again, the UK centric nature of the Tour gives the (or most of the) British youngsters an advantage over the other aspiring young players who may be better than (some of) them but face all sorts of challenges they don’t face: living as expats, overcoming the language barrier, coping with a different culture, different laws … and being away from the support of their families only makes it all even harder. No child should be put in that situation. It’s hard enough already for adults.