The World Snooker Federation is hosting its annual championships with Mink Nutcharut and Leone Crowley already emerging with big titles in Morocco.
The flagship WSF Championship begins today and runs until February 1st at the Radisson Blu Resort in Saidia.
But the junior tournament and the women’s competition were completed on Thursday.
WSF Women’s Championship
Mink Nutcharut produced a gutsy fight back from 3-1 behind to deny Bai Yulu glory in the 2025 WSF Women’s Championship.
Mink topped her round-robin group by winning all three of her league fixtures and then overcame China’s Yang Meng 3-1 to reach the semi-finals.
In the last four, the 25 year-old ousted Rebecca Kenna 4-1 to set up a blockbuster battle with reigning women’s world champion Bai.
The latter, who reached the final qualifying round of the UK Championship at the back end of 2024, had already shown her pedigree with a maximum attempt during her quarter-final victory over Narucha Phoemphul.
Bai beat the Thai player 3-0 and then secured a confidence-boosting 4-1 triumph over Ng On Yee in the semi-finals.
The 21 year-old began the final strongly, winning three out of the first four frames to move to within the brink of success.
But Mink scored a break of 65 to stay in touch before duly winning a couple of nervy frames to complete the turnaround.
Victory, for which she received €3,500 in prize money, represents her second on the World Women’s Snooker Tour this season and a ninth career ranking title in total.
WSF Junior Championship
Following Mink’s deciding-frame clincher, there was a one-sided final to the 2025 WSF Junior Championship between Leone Crowley and Kaylen Patel.
Crowley, from Cork in Ireland, dominated the contest and won all five frames of the affair to claim the prestigious international amateur crown.
The 18 year-old, who has won numerous underage titles at national level, earned €6,000 for winning the biggest title of his fledgling career to date.
But even more importantly, Crowley will receive a two-year card to compete on the World Snooker Tour for the upcoming two seasons.
The teenager won his four round-robin matches to easily qualify for the knockout phase, where he first beat Ayaan Iqbal in the the last 16.
Crowley’s sternest challenge came in the quarter-finals when he was pushed all the way to a deciding frame by Poland’s Michal Szubarcyck.
A 4-1 triumph over Amaan Iqbal in the semi-finals took him to the title-deciding tie, which he confidently won to secure his promotion to the main tour.
“I feel very good,” Leone Crowley said afterwards. “I have been playing the game for the last ten years.”
“I’ve put a lot of hard work into this so I am just happy to have made my Dad proud and myself too.
“My family back home were all watching it, so I want to thank them for all the support.
“I 100% believed that this was possible. If you don’t believe, then you’re not going to achieve your goals.
“I was feeling good coming into the game. It was scrappy, but there was some good safety play and I felt confident when I was in front that I would get over the line eventually.
“I want to gain experience and hopefully I can stay on the tour. I don’t want to say too much.
“But hopefully, after those two years I will stay on – that’s the goal. My hero is Judd Trump, so I would like to play him.”
Crowley will also be invited to compete in this year’s World Snooker Championship qualifiers, giving him some valuable experience before officially turning professional.
Featured photo credit: WSF
