Alfie Burden regains World Snooker Tour place after edging thriller with Iulian Boiko at Q School – 'So many emotions'

ByEurosport

Updated 06/06/2023 at 16:57 GMT

Alfie Burden, Louis Heathcote, Dean Young and Stuart Carrington will return to the World Snooker Tour this season after emerging victorious from a frantic closing day at Q School in Leicester on Tuesday. Three of the four matches were settled on the final frame of Event Two at the city's Morningside Arena. Stream top snooker action live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com.

Top 5 shots from World Championship: O'Sullivan, Si, Brecel all star

Alfie Burden put the disappointment of his World Seniors final defeat to close friend Jimmy 'Whirlwind' White behind him last month to regain his place on the World Snooker Tour on the final day of Q School in Leicester.

Burden picked up from where he left off on Monday evening at Event Two of the 208-player competition after recovering a 3-0 deficit to overcome former Shoot Out winner Michael Holt 4-3 just before midnight.

A 4-2 win over Duane Jones in the last 16 on Tuesday morning, which included a closing 91, set the Londoner up for a tense quarter-final meeting with talented Ukraine teenager Iulian Boiko, who had defeated former World Seniors champion Peter Lines by the same scoreline.

World Championship

‘I needed a bit of help’ - O’Sullivan enlists old coach ahead of eighth world title bid

19 minutes ago

Burden produced breaks of 55 and 88 to lead 2-1 before Boiko edged 3-2 clear boosted by knocks of 54 and 68 in the fourth frame and claiming a tough fifth frame by a measly two points.

Despite his plight, the evergreen Burden refused to buckle as a 52 run set up the decider which he secured on the final brown as both men missed several chances with the tension palpable.

The result means Burden has secured his tour card for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons respectively, meaning he will celebrate his 30th anniversary since turning professional in 1994 back among the sport's elite.

Elsewhere, Edinburgh's Dean Young also held his nerve to defeat Florian Nuessle 4-3 in regaining his tour card for the next two years with Leicester's Louis Heathcote finishing with breaks of 111 and 74 to come from 3-2 behind in a 4-3 win over Ryan Davies.

“There are so many emotions,” said Burden on WST. “I actually tried to pull out of Q School after the World Seniors because I felt I had let my family down by not winning that event – I felt very down and didn’t want to pick my cue up. I had a few days practice, came here and rolled the dice.

“Q School is so tough. After I won I went to the toilet and there was a kid bent over the sink crying his eyes out because he had lost.

"It was Florian and I feel for him. I almost wanted to swap places with him because I have had a long career, while he is a young kid just starting out and wanting it so badly, trying to win a place on the tour.

"Everything I do is for my children and I’m just delighted to win today.”

'He makes the game look so easy' - White ranks top 10 snooker players of all-time

Stuart Carrington had a much easier time as he coasted to 4-0 whitewash win over former Crucible qualifier Rory McLeod helped by runs of 66 and 53 in regaining his place on the main circuit.

McLeod had finished with a break of 71 in his gruelling 4-3 last-16 win over Robin Hull that lasted for over four hours.

Andrew Pagett, Alexander Ursenbacher, Andrew Higginson and Liam Pullen claimed places on the main World Snooker Tour circuit from Event One.

A player entering in round one had to win six matches to earn their card with those coming in at the second stage needing five wins from the best-of-seven-frame contests.

Four tour cards are also available from the 128-player Asia and Oceania Q School events which run between 1-12 June and are open to citizens of the regions.