Former champion Brecel misses out on Crucible spot

Luca Brecel won the World Snooker Championship in 2023, beating Mark Selby 18-15 in the final

Former winner Luca Brecel has failed to qualify for the 2026 World Snooker Championship, losing to Wales' Jak Jones in the last qualifying round.

Brecel lifted the trophy at the Crucible in 2023, but will not be there this year as Jones, the 2024 runner-up, sealed a 10-5 victory at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

Jones made five century breaks of 136, 100, 114, 114 and 132 on his way to securing a superb success.

"I played quite well and this morning I felt really good, but this evening I felt shocking. But I managed to pull myself together and get over the line," said Jones.

"I don't think I could play much better - it was probably the best I have played all season. I enjoy playing at the Crucible, you either love it or hate it and you can crumble, but I enjoy the atmosphere and it's an unbelievable arena."

Two-time finalist Ali Carter won five frames in a row as he fought back from 7-5 behind to defeat Scotland's Anthony McGill 10-7.

"I just felt Anthony was playing with a lot of freedom and I had to stick with him as he could've got away from me," said 46-year-old Carter, who will be playing at the Crucible for a 22nd year.

England's Liam Highfield, 35, only returned to the World Snooker Tour last year after he suffered a broken wrist in an e-scooter accident in 2023.

Ranked 92nd, he had to win four qualifying matches and booked his spot with a convincing 10-2 victory over Oliver Lines.

"Everything is on the up," said Highfield, who lost in the first round at the Crucible in 2017, 2021 and 2022.

"I couldn't make a bridge when I broke my wrist and it has been a long journey back and it's quite emotional to be back.

"I didn't know if I would ever get back there, hopefully my career is on an upwards curve from now on."

England's Jack Lisowski, who claimed his first ranking title with victory at the Northern Ireland Open in October, was also eliminated - going down 10-5 to China's He Guoqiang.

It was a great day for China as Zhang Anda, Fan Zhengyi and Lei Peifan also gained wins over Zak Surety, Ben Mertens and Ryan Day respectively.

That means there will be 11 Chinese players in the 32 at the Crucible, a new record - beating the previous high of 10 who played last year.

It was nearly a dozen men from China through as Xu Si was 9-8 ahead and 44-0 up against Gary Wilson, but the Englishman, who had earlier led 7-2, won the last two frames, including a break of 126 in the decider to advance.

"That was absolutely nuts," said Wilson. "From ball one I just had no cueing, but I got a good lead so maybe he was a bit nervous. But tonight it was even worse and I thought 'this is a complete embarrassment'.

"At the end I thought 'it's the biggest tournament we have and if you can't try everything then when would you?'. So, I was just trying everything. It was just bottle, and I don't know how I did it."

Zhang made five centuries and four half-centuries in his 10-3 success over Surety.

Lei defeated 2024 winner Kyren Wilson in the first round at the Crucible in 2025 and will return there after never falling behind in his 10-5 triumph over Welshman Day.

There will be four players making their first appearance at the Crucible - England's Stan Moody and Liam Pullen, and Poland's Antoni Kowalski qualified on Tuesday, with He joining them on Wednesday.

The draw will feature the top 16 and 16 qualifiers, and will be broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live at 08:45 BST on Thursday.

The first round begins on Saturday, with the final starting on Sunday, 3 May and concluding the next day - with full coverage of the tournament live on the BBC.

Tuesday's results (first to 10)

Hossein Vafaei (Iran) 10-4 Gao Yang (China)

Stuart Bingham (England) 7-10 Matthew Stevens (Wales)

Noppon Saengkham (Thailand) 8-10 Liam Pullen (England)

Jiang Jun (China) 9-10 Stan Moody (England)

David Gilbert (England) 10-6 Aaron Hill (Republic of Ireland)

Zhou Yuelong (China) 10-4 Michael Holt (England)

Pang Junxu (China) 10-8 Jackson Page (Wales)

Jamie Jones (Wales) 8-10 Antoni Kowalski (Poland)

Zhang Anda (China) 10-3 Zak Surety (England)

Gary Wilson (England) 10-9 Xu Si (China)

Jack Lisowski (England) 5-10 He Guoqiang (China)

Ryan Day (Wales) 5-10 Lei Peifan (China)

Ali Carter (England) 10-7 Anthony McGill (Scotland)

Fan Zhengyi (China) 10-4 Ben Mertens (Belgium)

Oliver Lines (England) 2-10 Liam Highfield (England)

Luca Brecel (Belgium) 5-10 Jak Jones (Wales)