Larkov Lifts WSF Junior Championship Title
Michael Larkov defeated Wang Xinbo 5-2 to win the 2026 World Snooker Federation (WSF) Junior Championship and earn a two-year World Snooker Tour (WST) tour card.
The 17-year-old from Ukraine came through a field of 80 cueists at the Hotel Marinela in Sofia, Bulgaria to secure his place among the professional ranks for the first time in his career.
Friday in Sofia saw four hopefuls remaining after four days of action and it was Larkov who defeated Thailand’s Prin Ratmukda and China’s Wang on the final day to join Iulian Boiko as the Ukrainian representation on the WST from the 2026/27 campaign.
The event began with the group phase where Larkov began with a trio of consecutive whitewash victories over Adyan Iqbal, William Thomson and Wojciech Sowinski to qualify for the knockout stages.
A top break of 101 saw the Ukrainian comfortably overcome Mikayel Nersisyan 4-0 before he showed his battling qualities to turn around a 3-1 deficit against Scotland’s Ayaan Iqbal and reach the quarter-finals.
Larkov was competing in his third WSF Junior Championship and had never previously gone beyond the last 16, but breaks of 114 and 73 on Saturday helped the teenager to a 4-1 victory over China’s Wang Xinzhong to earn a place in the final day for the first time.
Both semi-finals were one-sided affairs as Larkov downed Thailand’s Ratmukda 4-0 while Wang completed the final line-up courtesy of a victory against England’s Daniel Boyes by the same scoreline.
China’s Wang, aged 18, was competing in the event for the first time and boasted a CV that had seen him competing in four events on the WST this season which included a win against Robbie Williams at the Wuhan Open.
An impressive week for the teenager had seen him drop just four frames across eight matches to reach the title match but he found himself in trouble against Larkov as the Ukrainian hit two half centuries to win four of the first five frames and move one away from glory.
Wang kept his hopes alive with a break of 75 in sixth but Larkov was unphased and got over the line in the next with a contribution of 60 to secure the title as a 5-2 victor.
The WSF Open Championship takes place on 24 January-1 Feburary at Hotel Marinela, Sofia. You can follow the event via WPBSA SnookerScores and two tables will be streamed live on the WPBSA YouTube channel.
