Robert Milkins cruised into the final 64 of Q College Occasion 1 with a 4-0 defeat of James Silverwood in Leicester on Friday.
The 50 year-old is undoubtedly the highest-profile participant within the 2026 version of the cut-throat competitors, the place greater than 150 entrants are scrambling for simply eight tour playing cards.
It was solely simply over three years in the past that Milkins picked up the second of his two rating titles, underlining simply how speedy a decline he has suffered since.
The Englishman’s triumph on the 2023 Welsh Open, the place he beat Shaun Murphy within the last, additionally earned him a whopping £150,000 BetVictor bonus as probably the most constant participant all through that season’s Residence Nations Collection.
Quick ahead to 2024 and Milkins was a prime 16 seed on the 2024 World Snooker Championship, beating Pang Junxu en path to a spot within the second spherical.
However the former Gibraltar Open champion’s kind then fell off a cliff in dramatic vogue.
He failed to achieve the quarter-finals of a single rating occasion throughout the current two-year span, a streak that included a number of first-round exits which culminated in him in the end dropping outdoors the highest 64 on the planet rankings.
Such was the extent of shock that he bought relegated so quickly after he final lifted silverware aloft, Milkins will in all probability really feel that he has unfinished enterprise on the World Snooker Tour.
Getting off to begin on the Mattioli Area can have given him a lift in confidence, however the draw randomness, strain, and cut-throat nature of Q College implies that the problem ranges can rise immediately.
Certainly, subsequent up for Milkins is one other fallen professional from the 2025/26 marketing campaign with Duane Jones standing in his means of a berth within the final 32.
Jones has been right here and purchased the t-shirt – on quite a few events in truth – with the Welshman graduating from Q College a formidable 3 times already.
The 33 year-old beat Ryan Thomerson 4-1 to arrange what’s already a high-stakes bout towards Milkins within the first of two occasions.
Elsewhere, Peter Traces, Andrew Higginson, Mark Joyce, Barry Pinches, and Sean O’Sullivan had been amongst a few of the acquainted faces who managed to remain within the operating for now.
Youthful threats Liam Davies, Kaylen Patel, Ryan Davies, and Sean Maddocks additionally moved ahead.
However there may be nonetheless an extended strategy to go, with 4 extra wins nonetheless required to get one of many 4 tickets which might be accessible from the primary Q College occasion.
The up to date attracts for each Q College occasion can be found over at snooker.org.
Along with the Milkins-Jones conflict, there are a couple of different last-64 ties that look fascinating.
There may be an all-Hong Kong conflict between fallen execs Cheung Ka Wai and Wang Yuchen, whereas younger Northern Irishman Robbie McGuigan encounters harmful German Umut Dikme.
Featured photograph credit score: WST
