Welsh teen Liam Davies is hoping to follow in the same footsteps as Luke Littler by making it through qualifying at the World Snooker Championships to the main event at the iconic Crucible venue.
The World Championship qualifiers got underway today with a host of big-name stars involved.
The likes of Jack Lisowski, Neil Robertson, Stuart Bingham and Stephen Maguire have to make it through qualifying with only 16 spaces available.
Those four have all been granted byes until the penultimate qualifying round, but Davies will have to win four matches in order to make it to next week's main event.
Liam Davies is hoping to make it all the way to the Crucible
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The 17-year-old has already been tipped for a bright future having impressed two years ago in qualifying.
Davies became the youngest player to win a match at the World Snooker Championships at the age of 15 in 2022.
He's since booked his place on the professional tour for the next two seasons after winning the European Under-21 title in March.
And the Welsh teenage star's confidence of upsetting the odds has been helped by Littler's shock emergence at the World Darts Championship just a few months ago.
"It’s really, really tough and I’m a massive outside favourite to do anything in the qualifiers, but it is possible," Davies told the Talking Snooker podcast.
"Who would have said that Luke Littler would have got to the final of the World Darts Championship at 16?
"No one would have even dreamt of it.
"If you’d have said that at the start of the tournament, they’d have said 'shut up, he’s got no chance'.
Luke Littler became an instant superstar when he reached the final of the World Darts Championship
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"But you watched him play a couple of games, he grew and grew and grew into getting to the final.
"So you’ve got to take one shot and one game at a time, but you never know what’s going to happen, if you get on a run you just never know.
"The first game is massive. If you go there and win the first game, it’s £5,000, your hotel is paid for then you’re on a free go then, whatever happens then is great.
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Liam Davies must win four qualifiers to make it to the main draw
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"If you can get your first match under your belt you become dangerous."
Davies has landed in a difficult section of the draw, that could see him face Matthew Stevens in the penultimate qualifying round if he reaches that stage.
World No 17 Lisowski will likely be waiting in the final qualifying round ahead of the main draw.
The final round is held over two days on April 16 and 17 with all matches being best-of-19 frames.
