Jack Lisowski has been eliminated from the World Snooker Championship after suffering a 10-5 defeat to He Guoqiang in the qualifying rounds. The world number 18, who required a strong run to secure a place at the Crucible, was unable to overcome the Chinese qualifier at the final hurdle.
Lisowski fell 5-0 behind early in the match, with Guoqiang registering a break of 138 to assert his dominance. The Englishman clawed back to 6-3 by the interval, but missed a crucial blue in the first frame after the break. He briefly rallied to 7-5, only for Guoqiang to win two consecutive frames. Lisowski took a 68-36 lead in the 16th frame, but Guoqiang responded to win by a single point and seal the victory.
Guoqiang, ranked 47th in the world, will now enter the draw for the 50th edition of the tournament. He could face top seeds such as Ronnie O'Sullivan or Judd Trump in the first round. The draw takes place on Thursday.
Luca Brecel also missed out on qualification, losing 10-5 to Jak Jones. Other qualifiers include Stan Moody, Liam Pullen and Antoni Kowalski. Zhao Xintong is the defending champion after defeating Mark Williams in last year's final.
