Snooker results: Jamie Clarke qualifies for World Championship with a dramatic treble on the black

By Sporting Life

Snooker

Thu April 14, 2022 · 3y ago

Jamie Clarke sank to his knees after sealing a place at the World Championship with a dramatic 10-8 victory over former Crucible champion Graeme Dott.

The Welshman, who stunned Mark Allen 10-8 on debut in the first round two years ago, completed another memorable triumph with a treble on the black in the 18th frame.

🙌 There was plenty of drama on the final day of qualifying for the World Championship - but how about this from @JamieClarkeReal to seal his spot at the Crucible! pic.twitter.com/y4zZY9GknE
— Sporting Life 🎯🔴🎾⛳️🥊🏏🏉 🏈 (@SportingLifeFC) April 13, 2022

"It means everything [to be back at the Crucible,’ he told the BBC. "I obviously qualified a couple of years ago but there were no crowds. Now I can have my family, friends, I’ll have absolutely everyone up there and if I lose 10-0 then so be it.

"I’d probably do exactly the same as I did last time. I really enjoyed the media side, having fun on Twitter during the matches, I really had fun playing under no pressure, it was all a free roll.

"This time it’ll be exactly the same, I’m going to go out there and enjoy every single minute because you never know if you’ll get back there again."

Anthony Hamilton’s absence from the Crucible will continue after he was comfortably beaten in the final round of World Championship qualifying.

The four-time quarter-finalist, who has qualified only once since 2008 but withdrew because of concerns over Covid-19, was beaten 10-3 by David Gilbert.

Having fallen 2-1 behind early on, Gilbert made a break of 100 to win the fourth frame, the first of seven straight frames for the 40-year-old to put the contest beyond Hamilton.

“I’m delighted to get through,” Gilbert said on World Snooker TV. “I’ve got nothing but respect for Anthony.”

Hossein Vafaei became the first Iranian to qualify for the Crucible with a 10-9 win over Lei Peifan.

“I’m so happy,” the 27-year-old said. “I make my people happy and make them proud, they have someone in the snooker finals. Today I was nervous a lot, I was shaking a lot. I have to say with my performance, I’m sorry, I played so bad but who cares? I won.”

Matthew Stevens won the final four frames, including a break of 139 in the 17th, as he came from behind to beat Ali Carter 10-8 in the battle of the two former finalists.

Noppon Saengkham won the final three frames to rally for a 10-8 victory over Robert Milkins while Chris Wakelin took four of the last five frames for a 10-7 win over Jimmy Robertson.

Liam Highfield won the final three frames for a 10-7 win over Yuan Sijun while Jackson Page booked his ticket to the Crucible with a 10-6 win over David Grace.