World Snooker Championship: Jimmy White faces uphill battle to keep Crucible dream alive as Liu Hongyu surges clear

ByEurosport

Updated 11/04/2024 at 07:27 GMT

Jimmy 'Whirlwind' White needs to produce a vintage comeback to keep alive his hopes of qualifying for the World Championship final stages at the Crucible Theatre for the first time since 2006. Eurosport pundit White trails world No. 80 Liu Hongyu 7-2 after the first session of their second round qualifier, 30 years after his last final appearance when he lost 18-17 to Stephen Hendry in 1994.

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Jimmy White first qualified for the Crucible in 1981, but the prospects of the six-time world finalist returning to the sport's biggest stage 43 years later look bleak.

White was given a bye to the second round of qualifying after fellow Londoner Martin Gould withdrew from the competition, but the former UK champion endured a tough time in falling 7-2 behind to 19-year-old Chinese player Liu Hongyu at the English Institute of Sport.

A fine 81 break saw White level up at 1-1, but he shipped the next four frames with world No. 80 Liu producing runs of 74, 60 and 135 in moving 5-1 ahead.

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The Tooting player won the seventh frame, but Liu claimed the next two to leave himself three frames short of victory when the match resumes on Thursday afternoon.

Meanwhile, 17-year-old former world junior champion Stan Moody suffered a 10-6 defeat after losing the last five frames to Mohammed Shehab in a 10-6 loss.

Elsewhere, world No. 64 Mark Davis boosted his hopes of securing his tour card for next season as he built up an 8-1 overnight lead against Andrew Pagettm while former European Masters winner Jimmy Robertson leads Liam Davies 7-2.