This is WST report on day 3 at the EIS in Sheffield:
Tour rookie Liam Pullen scored his first ever Cazoo World Championship match win with an impressive 10-3 defeat of Ukrainian Anton Kazakov in qualifying at the English Institute of Sport.
Pullen earned his professional status at Q School last year, when he bounced back from the disappointment of losing the WSF Junior Championship final to Stan Moody.
Since then, he has shown glimpses of his considerable talent, highlighted with a run to the last 32 of the International Championship in Tianjin, which included a 6-5 defeat of Thai number one Noppon Saengkham.
Much of the damage in today’s clash was done this morning, when Pullen fired in breaks of 96, 73, 88 and 93 on his way to an 8-1 lead at the close of the first session.
Kazakov did mount a fightback of sorts by taking two of the first three frames this evening. However, a break of 66 from Pullen in the 13th saw him over the line. Defeat for Kazakov sees him suffer relegation from the World Snooker Tour.
Pullen now faces close friend and practice partner Sanderson Lam, who he lost to in Crucible qualifying last year.
“I’m very pleased in the end, but a bit annoyed with how I finished off. It was a bit nervy. Overall I played pretty well,” said 18 year old Pullen.
“Sanderson beat me last year and there were no hard feelings on my side. It obviously isn’t ideal and I would rather play someone else but it is what it is.
“The target is the Crucible, for anyone really. It is tough though. Now I’ve won my first game I can try to get into the competition and aim to play some good stuff.”
Mohammed Shehab of the UAE scored a 10-6 win over Stan Moody to book his place in the second round.
Shehab, who previously spent two seasons as a professional, in 1996 and 2006, hasn’t appeared on the World Snooker Tour since the 2019 Six Red World Championship. However, the 47-year-old will be on the circuit next season after coming through the Q Tour Global Playoff.
Shehab won five frames on the bounce, from 6-5 down, to win this evening. Next up he faces Tian Pengfei.
China’s Gao Yang beat India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha 10-6, while Ashley Carty scored a 10-4 win over Liam Graham.
The afternoon session saw Jimmy White end 7-2 down against Liu Hongyu and Jimmy Robertson establish a 7-2 lead over Liam Davies. They resume tomorrow afternoon at 2:30pm.
Those reports sometimes make me wonder… for instance, in this one, only two of the eigth matches that started yesterday afternoon are mentioned. Why? Anyway all the results are on snooker.org.
Also, I know it’s not nice but I’m absolutely delighted that Shehab beat Moody. I have nothing against young Stan and I’m not in love with Mohammed … no … it’s because it means that I won’t have to cope with Philip Studd’s commentary on another match involving Stan Moody. Philip is so “partisan” it’s unsettling. Yesterday it was felt as if there was only one player deserved to be in that match and he should win it: Stan Moody. Mohammed Shehab earned his right to play in this event and he was the better player by far. Ok, it is better for the future of snooker when young players go through but that’s no reason, nor is it an excuse for a total lack of impartiality and BTW, in my views at least, it is equally better for the future of snooker when more players from outside UK do well. After all the W in “WST” stands for “World”.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Yes, a lesson for Stan Moody. Also someone who should learn from yesterday is Gong Chenzhi. He got angry and started hitting the balls very hard, upset by his opponent’s protracted spoiling tactics. He’s not the first player to succumb to that, but he may be the last, thankfully. At 7-7, Gao Yang (who had won his match, playing brilliantly) came up to Gong and said “I’m going home, you need to get your own taxi”.
A much more mature temperament was shown by Liu Hongyu. There was a huge crowd to see Jimmy White, but they were surprisingly respectful of Liu’s skills. Often, a cult crowd can cause a real problem for ‘the other player’. But these days, crowds for Jimmy White matches are much more subdued, in acceptance that Jimmy will probably not be competitive.
Liam Pullen was excellent. His demeanor reminds me a little of Mark Williams, and indeed looks to have enough ability to be a worthy successor.
Yes, Rod “the plod” Lawler is very slow. How much of that is tactics however I’m not sure. I’ve been around him in players’ rooms and at PTC events and he seems to be just slow in everything he does, moves slowly, speaks slowly, eats slowly…
Well he certainly uses it as a weapon. He clearly identified Gong as a good target to get sucked in, and he was right. For example, when Gong got a bit lucky with a safety shot, leaving Lawler hampered over a ball, he just sat in his seat for about 20 seconds wiping his brow, before getting up and playing a perfectly decent shot. He also has the habit of staying at the table long after his shot is finished, which probably affects his opponent’s AST. This kind of stuff is pure gamesmanship, even though ‘within the rules’. Gong may have been taught by Yan Bingtao’s father, but he a very different character. Someone should have warned Gong beforehand, and I hope Ben Martens is prepared for it.