Riley Powell becomes second 14-year-old to win at Snooker Shoot Out after Vladislav Gradinari becomes youngest player to win a TV snooker match | Snooker News

Riley Powell became the second 14-year-old to win the Snooker Shoot Out after Vladislav Gradinari beat three-time women’s world champion Ng On Yee to become the youngest player to win a televised snooker match.

Vladislav Gradinari beats Ng On Yee in Snooker Shootout. Pic World Snooker Tour

Teenager Riley Powell followed Vladislav Gradinari as the second 14-year-old to make the second round of the BetVictor Snooker Shoot Out in Leicester with victory over number 8 Kyren Wilson.

On Wednesday, Moldovan teenager Gradinari became the youngest player to win a televised match when she defeated three-time women’s world champion Ng On Yee.

Powell continued the trend at Morningside Arena when he dispatched Wilson, the fifth-ranked event winner, 41-31 in the quickfire contest.

“It was amazing, the best event I’ve ever been to,” said teenager Welsh Powell, who is two months older than Gradinari and turns 15 in August.

“The people were very nice. I had some early mistakes but then I came back. I just tried to enjoy the opportunity and I loved every bit of it.”

Powell, from Tredegar in South Wales, trains with former world champions Mark Williams, Lee Walker and Jackson Page.

“As soon as I started playing snooker I loved it,” he said World Snooker Tour website.

“Mark Williams has been very good to me, I want to thank Jackson and Lee for all the help they have given me.

“Any training I can do is great, I’ve learned a lot from him. I want to be number 1 and world champion.”

Gradinari, who is originally from Moldova but lives in Leeds, explained how difficult it is to play snooker in his country.

“It’s not popular, we have three or four tables around the country,” said the England U14 champion. World Snooker Tour.

“That [the win] it feels amazing. I play the best game, at the table I feel calm. When I was seven I started playing snooker and we moved here two years ago.

World number 7 and last year’s finalist Williams also advanced to the second round, after scoring 98 points in her win over Craig Steadman.

Iran’s Hossein Vafaei beat Williams last year but has been beaten by Shaun Murphy.

Elsewhere on Thursday, amateur Michael Holt, who won the event in 2020 while on the pro tour, made his highest break to date with 116 in his win against Lei Peifan.

Dominic Dale and Matthew Stevens battled it out in the first ‘blue-ball shoot out’ of this year’s competition, following a 49-49 draw.

Dale then defeated former Masters and British champion Stevens to advance to the second round.