A 15-year-old from Wales has made history this week as he became the youngest ever competitor to win a World Snooker Championships match at qualifiers in Sheffield.
Liam Davies, from Tredegar in Blaenau Gwent, has so far defeated both Aaron Hill and Fergal O'Brien in the series of professional matches, where he aims to qualify for the illustrious Snooker World Championships for 2022. Despite already having the amazing achievement under his belt, however, Liam says there is still a long way for him to go.
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Liam, who is currently home-schooled by his parents in Tredegar in order to maintain his gruelling training regime of up to seven hours each day, says although the achievement of becoming the youngest person ever to win a professional qualifying match feels quite special, he is hoping he can make everyone in his hometown even more proud by making it all the way to the championships themselves.
He said: "So far I've won two of my four qualifying matches to get to the Snooker World Championships and it just feels absolutely amazing. The pressure of competing at such a high level is just unbelievable, and honestly during the first moments of my last match my hands were shaking and my heart was beating out of my chest. It's a great feeling though, and something I know I want to make a career out of so it's a good first step. I still have a long way to go, and while in the short-term my goal is just to become a professional snooker player, my overall goal is to be a world champion and get to the point where I'm ranked number one in the world.
"It's what I love to do, and something I have been obsessed with since I first started playing at six years old, when I would go to the club with my father after his football matches, and have a few games on the table there. After that I asked if he would take me to the Mark Williams snooker club in Tredegar and that's where I started hitting them. It's just an honour to be doing this now and even though it has been a massive learning curve so far, I just feel on top of the world."
Although 128 players started the qualifying event at the English Institute of Sport on April 4, there will only be 16 places on offer for the World Championship with Liam hoping to grab one of them. After winning his last head to head match six sets to five against Ireland's Fergal O'Brien, he will now move forward to his next match with confidence.
He added: "Playing snooker is all I've known since I was a kid, and training with my coach Lee Walker has been a massive help for me. I've come through the ranks becoming the Wales Under 14s, 16s, 18s, and 21s champion so I definitely want to keep that going. I get home schooled in order to keep up with training and chasing my dream of a professional career in snooker, and I've made a lot of sacrifices to get here."
Liam's father Leyton said whatever the results in the coming games, he is immensely proud of his son for the constant dedication and hard work he puts in. He said: "We're all incredibly proud of Liam because he is working so hard to chase his dream of becoming a professional snooker player and the sacrifices he is making are incredible.
"He is practicing his craft for up to seven hours a day some days and he has really dedicated himself to what he wants to do. His recent wins have been great and are a massive achievement, especially at his age competing against professional adults who are competing for a living. He's done great so far and whatever happens we know he has a massive future in this sport." For more news from Blaenau Gwent, you can subscribe to our dedicated newsletter here.
