Last Monday Michael Judge didn’t even know that he would be playing in the World Championship 2019 qualifiers. He only was invited because Zhang Jankiang was denied his visa and had to withdraw.

We are one week later and now, he’s won two matches, beating Peter Lines and Xiao Guodong, both in a deciding frame and he’s going to play James Cahill in the last round for a possible place at the Crucible! James is an amateur as well, and this will be the first time ever that an amateur will play in the World Championship main event at the Crucible.

Here are all the results so far!

The other “Seniors” involved didn’t – or don’t – do badly!

Jimmy White and Ken Doherty both won their first match and will play their second round match today. Jimmy is facing Ali Carter, Ken play Scott Donaldson.

David Lilley lost to Eden Sharav in round one, but the match was close. The final score was 10-7.

Jonathan Bagley really struggled with the conditions – very unfamiliar ones for him – during the first session. He progressively improved, but taming a heavy scorer like Thepchaya Un-nooh isn’t easy for anyone. The first session ended on as 8-1 score in favor of “Theppy”. Jonathan did himself proud though: in the second session he battled in true gladiator style and took three frames. He lost by 10-4 eventually but with honors!