Kazakov Completes European Double As Sykes Secures WST Debut

Anton Kazakov defeated Oliver Sykes 5-4 to win the 2026 EBSA European Championship title in Gandia, Spain.

The victory saw the Ukrainian complete a memorable double, adding to the Under-21 crown he secured earlier in the week with 18 consecutive wins at the Gandia Palace Hotel, while Main event runner-up Oliver Sykes also earned a World Snooker Tour (WST) two-year tour card for the first-time in his career by reaching the final.

A total of 172 players contested the event, organised by the European Billiards & Snooker Association (EBSA), and Kazakov continued his outstanding form to finish top of a group that also featured Under-21 finalist Riley Powell, Belgium’s Nick Demuynck and Jan Laushman from Bulgaria.

A whitewash win over Arsenii Korolev was followed by a 4-1 success against reigning German national champion Simon Lichtenberg to reach the last 16, where he faced former professional Peter Lines.

Lines was able to rally from 3-1 behind to force a decider, but it was the 21-year-old who held his nerve to win through before denying former European Under-16 champion Vladislav Gradinari in the quarter-finals – just as he had done in the Under-21 competition earlier in the week.

The tournament high break of 140 then helped Kazakov comfortably past Finnish former professional Robin Hull to reach a second successive final, where he met Sykes.

The 20-year-old Englishman had been in fine form across the week and a 4-1 defeat of Germany’s Umut Dikme on Saturday morning guaranteed Sykes his place on the WST for the first time from the start of the 2026/27 campaign.

A closely fought title match saw the first eight frames of the match shared with neither player ever leading by more than a one, meaning it all came down to a decider.

It was Kazakov who proved to be the man of the moment once again as he took the ninth and decisive frame by a 62-5 scoreline to complete a memorable double in Gandia.