This is WST report on day 5 at the 2023 Q-School Event 1
Pullen Clinches Final Day Slot
English teenager Liam Pullen is just two wins away from earning a tour card, after a thrilling fightback saw him beat Craig Steadman 4-3 and make the final day of Q School Event One.
Pullen is just 17 years old and already came close to securing his place on tour earlier this year, but he was beaten 5-1 by Stan Moody in the final of the WSF Junior Championship in Sydney.
Steadman is well versed in the Q School gauntlet, having earned tour cards through the event on a record four separate occasions. He looked good in this evening’s tie, when he swept to a 3-0 lead.
However, Pullen fired in breaks of 70 and 69 on his way to forcing a decider. The talented youngster showed nerves of steel in the final frame, crafting a century run of 109 to make it four on the bounce and clinch victory. Next up Pullen faces Sydney Wilson.
Ukraine’s Iulian Boiko won a late night thriller against two-time ranking event semi-finalist Stuart Carrington 4-3 to clinch his place in the penultimate round.
Boiko had already beaten Liam Davies 4-2 earlier in the day and ended by defeating Carrington on the final black, with the clock just shy of midnight. He now faces Jamie O’Neill, who beat Joshua Thomond 4-3.
Hayden Pinhey beat former German Masters semi-finalist Duane Jones 4-3 to keep his hopes of a maiden tour card alive. He top scored with a run of 103 and will now play former professional Jamie Curtis-Barrett. Having lost in the final round of Q School in each of the last three years, Pinhey will is keen to go one step further tomorrow.
Pinhey said: “In the first two years that I lost in the final round, my opponents played really well. Last year I played against Jenson Kendrick and we both struggled. It was probably the lowest I’ve been after a snooker match. I was really struggling mentally. I had to get myself back up again and a month later I beat Matthew Selt 5-1 in a tour event. I know I have the game and it is just about doing it at the right time now.”
Former professionals Andrew Higginson and Steven Hallworth earned final day berths. Higginson scored a 4-1 win over Hayden Staniland, while Hallworth beat Zachary Richardson 4-2.
Iulian Boiko is to be commanded for the fortitude and fighting spirit he shows under the current circumstances in his country. He’s showing a lot of character for someone so young. Yesterday evening he fought hard again, coming back from 3-1 down to beat the experienced and ever tough Stuart Carrington.
16 players remain, of which 4 will get a two years tour card at the end of today. This is the last 16 draw:
If I’m not mistaken, 6 of those players have never been professionals before: Whelan, Pinhey, Quinn, Taubman, Pullen, and Womersley. The ones who don’t have a (a) next their name have just been relegated and attempt to regain their professional status right away.
Two of the 16, Liam Pullen and Iulian Boiko are teenagers. Two, Alexander Ursenbacher and Iulian Boiko are from mainland Europe.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Sad to hear that.
(Especially it was a dark time back then.)
Boiko was on the tour before – when he was way too young imo!
He was way too young indeed. Fortunately it didn’t destroy him like it did Kascper Filipiak. What happened to him is a real shame.
I assume Boiko has a much better background… he has a youtube team.
(Kascper Filipiak had less than 20K/year in his 2 years on tour.)
Any thoughts about the 25K offer of media officer? I wonder if it is possible with such a low salary and so much obligations (it is not even meeting the old T2 working visa salary requirement,27000£.).
I don’t know about Boiko’s background but what I do know with 100% certainty is that having to face adversity, especially at a young age, makes you or breaks you. The current conflict in Ukraine is constantly on Iulian’s mind and of course we do not know what kind of worries he may face every day about his family and friends who are caught in the war. But we do know that he wants to be successful for his country and his fellow countrymen who suffer daily under the bombs. He said it, he wants to bring them something to be proud of, something that could possibly lift their morale. Kaçper was too young and didn’t settle but he also had to face private issues: his father was with him in the UK at the beginning but had to go back to Poland because of bereavement in the close family. Kaçper was also bereaved and found himself alone in a foreign country without family support. He didn’t cope.