World Snooker Championship: Leeds potter Oliver Lines looking for big break in race to Crucible

Those teenage dreams remain, but have been tempered by years of hard graft, travelling the globe, chasing prize money and ranking points to stay on the professional Tour.

Lines arrives in Sheffield next week, when he will once again set out in the Halo World Championship qualifiers, in a field of 128 players, needing to win four matches to make it to the televised stages at the Crucible for the first time.

But while he had eye-catching runs to reach the British Open semi-finals and last 16 of the Northern Ireland Open this season, Lines admits to suffering mental demons.

“My own confidence and self-esteem has cost me,” Lines told The Yorkshire Post. “I go into matches and I am not as confident as I would be, even though I know I have been playing well.

“This season has been very hit and miss. Obviously, I had a very good run to the semi-finals of the British Open, the last 16 of the Northern Ireland Open, but apart from those two it’s been pretty poor by my own standards.

“When I have taken so many losses over the years, you start to think you are going to lose instead of believing that you can win.

“It’s easy to give off an aura that you are okay - even if you’re not feeling it - I have managed to hide it pretty well over the years.

“I think if you show it, the opponents are so good now they are going to pounce all over it. You have to learn to not show it, even if you’re feeling it.

“I have been working with psychologists for most of the season, I feel like it’s going well. Obviously, sometimes it’s hard because I have been inside my own head for 11 years - since turning professional - and am working really hard on it, every now and than I fall back into… I would probably call it a rut. A losing run, I get down on myself and find it really hard to snap out of it.

“But we have been working really hard coming up to the World Championship. I am looking forward to next week.

“It drives me insane. But I wouldn’t want to give up and do something else because I am not a quitter.

“Eventually, hopefully, it will all click into place and the hard work I have been putting in will all pay off.”

Currently ranked 85th in the world, Lines - who trains at Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds - has the talent to rise further in the rankings.

He beat Mark Allen in Belfast at the Northern Ireland Open, only to lose to former world champion Neil Robertson in the last 16 - the Australian also came out on top 6-5 in the UK Championship qualifiers - while Lines knocked out last year’s Crucible finalist Jak Jones on his way to the last four of the British Open in Chelmsford.

“I have beat a lot of the top players, so I know I can do it,” he admitted. “It’s just putting it together tournament after tournament. The top players like Judd (Trump) and Kyren (Wilson), they do it every single tournament without fail.

“I am obviously doing it once, every now and again.

“I talk to Judd a lot. I don’t think there is anyone better that I can ask for advice really. He is one of my best friends and has given so much advice over the years. I haven’t seen him that much this season, because I haven’t qualified for most of the big tournaments.

“The hard part is you feel like you are only playing once every three or four months. Even if you are on a decent momentum, it soon stops if you’re not playing for a little while.”

Lines cues off aganst UAE’s Mohamed Shehab in the first round of qualifying, at the English Institute of Sport, on Tuesday morning.

Lines has never managed to navigate the World Championship qualifiers, but believes this year could be different.

With his Tour card already assured for next season, the Yorkshireman does not have to worry about scraping together ranking points simply to secure his future as a professional sportsman.

“Most of my career I have gone into the World Championship qualifiers having to win a game to stay on Tour,” he said.

“That could be one of the reasons why I haven’t qualified yet. If you set your mind to win the first match to stay on Tour, you feel like you have completed (the task). Maybe I have lost a bit of focus after winning that first game.

“This year I only have one focus and it is to qualify for the Crucible.

“I have some good runs in some good tournaments, but I would swap them all to qualify for the Crucible.”

With is success at the British Open and Northern Ireland Open this season, Lines is hoping for an extended stay in Sheffield.

“I think if you look at this season, the tournaments I have done well in, I have managed to play consistently, one match after another,” he said. “If I can get on a run, I might be difficult to stop.

“The qualifiers are so tough. There is no easy matches anymore. “Everybody has levelled up, they have had to or you won’t be a pro. “There’s a lot of good players that aren’t even on Tour.”

Lines is one of six Yorkshire players who are all chasing one of 16 coveted Crucible spots.

York teenager Liam Pullen plays Geo Yang on Wednesday, while Leeds duo David Grace and Sanderson Lam enter at the second-round stage on Thursday. Grace plays the winner of Sunny Akani or Kreishh Gurbaxani, while Lam awaits either Liam Davies or Ahmed Elsayed.

Friday sees Rotherham’s Ashley Carty join the competition, and the 29-year-old could be up against Crucible legend Jimmy White, if the latter overcomes his opening hurdle against Anton Kazakov.

Halifax teenager Stan Moody also plays Friday, against the winner of Dean Young and Michael Szubarczyk.

Simon Coates, Everyone Active’s general manager at the EIS, said: “Hosting the 2025 World Snooker Championship qualifiers is a huge honour.

“This is a fantastic event for snooker enthusiasts to enjoy and Sheffield has a long and illustrious history in the sport.

“We’re incredibly excited to kick off this year’s competition in April and welcome both the local community and those visiting from further afield to the prestigious qualifying tournament.”

Tickets to the qualifiers are £12 per day and can be purchased in advance or in person on the day. Visit: www.wst.tv/tickets/world-championship-qualifiers-2025-tickets