Robert Milkins set to be relegated from professional ranks following Crucible qualifying defeat

Milkins suffered a 10-3 defeat to Patrick Whelan in the second qualifying round at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield on Thursday evening.

Q School top-up amateur Whelan - who dismissed former world champion Ken Doherty earlier this week - got off to a brilliant start as breaks of 71 and 86 helped him to a 4-0 mid-session interval lead.

On resumption, Whelan boosted his advantage to six before Milkins got on the scoreboard with frame seven, during which he registered his first - and what would be his only - half-century break (50) of the day.

Milkins scored just one point in the final two frames of the morning session, as 28-year-old Whelan took away a commanding 8-1 profit.

Returning later in the day for the conclusion, Milkins’ monumental task got even tougher as Whelan deposited the first frame of the evening.

Animated and agitated during the match, Milkins did show heart in winning frame 11 on the black and the twelfth on the pink, but Englishman Whelan completed the task in the next to set up a meeting with Jackson Page in the penultimate qualifying round.

What next for Milkins?

An ever-present on snooker’s top flight since 1995, it appears that Milkins has lost his professional tour card.

On the projected end-of-season rankings list, Milkins is outside of the world’s top 64; all those inside that bracket get a pass for next season.

Milkins is also not placed high enough on the one-year/seasonal list, from which the top four without a tour card for the next term receive a fresh two-year card, although with their ranking totals reset to zero.

Following defeat in all six of his previous career ranking event semi-final appearances, Milkins made his big breakthrough in 2022 when he not only reached the final, but won the Gibraltar Open title.

Even better was to come less than 12 months later as he claimed both the Welsh Open crown and European Series bonus prize on the same day, equating to a total sum of £230,000.

Such results propelled him up the rankings and back into the elite top 16 where he earned berths at prestigious invitational events.

Only two years ago at the 2024 World Championship, Milkins was a seed player at the Crucible and won his opening match, but a severe downturn in results since then have seen him fall down the global standings.

But its not all doom and gloom for 50-year-old Milkins, who can bounce back and earn a tour card for next season through next month’s Q School held at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.

It won’t be an easy task for the two-time ranking event winner and former world number 12, but Milkins can be encouraged that players of a similar age have navigated the Q School gauntlet before.

Another experienced cueman and former top 16 star whose professional career is now in doubt is Mark Davis.

The 53-year-old was defeated 10-6 by Gao Yang - the conqueror of Jimmy White on Monday - and is in the same situation as Milkins on the world and one-year ranking lists.

The former back-to-back world 6-reds champion has been on snooker’s top tier since 1991. He looked like dropping off the circuit in 2023, but received a late reprieve due to the suspensions of several Chinese players involved in the match-fixing scandal that rocked the sport that season.

We wait and see whether Milkins and Davis will enter Q School.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 World Championship qualifying rounds, visit here.