World Championship: Beaten Oliver Lines is cheering on dad Peter in EIS qualifiers

Peter Lines and Oliver Lines. Picture by Simon Hulme

The 28-year-old from Leeds suffered a second-round 10-7 loss to good friend Louis Heathcote at Sheffield’s English Institute of Sport.

Defeat leaves him outside the world’s top 64, and left hoping he can retain his place on Tour through the one-year list. The alternative is a trip to Q School.

But on Saturday, Lines will be supporting father Peter, 54, at the EIS hoping to earn one of 16 qualifying spots for the Crucible.

The former World Seniors champion resumes his match in the afternoon against Scott Donaldson – level at 4-4 – after the opening session on Friday.

“I am going to take a little time off, see how results go (elsewhere) but my time over the next few days will be spent supporting my dad, giving him the help he needs,” Oliver told The Yorkshire Post. “Hopefully we can see him win a few matches.”

On his own defeat to Heathcote, Lines said: “It’s not nice losing, the only good thing it was to one of my friends, a really good friend. I will be cheering him on now.

“I have just fallen out of the top 64 so need a couple of results to go my way. I am No 1 currently on the one-year list, but with plenty of matches still to go there is plenty of people who can overtake me.

“I have already told myself results probably won’t go my way. It would ne nice to stay (on Tour) and not have to play Q School, but mentally I have told myself I probably will.

“The way the Tour is, every time I win a first-round match it’s seeded, so I am playing players in the top four or five. It’s a bit of a joke really, the system.

“It’s the luck of the draw, but the luck of the draw is massive in snooker these days.”

Sanderson Lam leads 5-4 in the best-of-19 match against teenager Liam Pullen in their second-round match, the pair train alongside the Lines duo – and David Grace – at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds.

Grace faces Dominic Dale in the third round of qualifying on Saturday, while York’s Ashley Hugill faces Stephen Maguire.

Rotherham’s Ashley Carty also returns to conclude his match against John Astley, locked at 4-4.