
Pullen: In snooker only the strongest survive so you have to become one of them
The teenager first won his place on the World Snooker Tour in 2023, but after a difficult second season in particular, he was back at Q School this month fighting for his professional future.
An impressive run of five wins meant he is straight back on tour, although it is never straightforward in the cauldron of Q School.
Pullen made 73 in the first frame of his final match with Umut Dikme, only to lose it despite the German requiring two snookers. Not the best start to the all-important contest.
'I went to the toilet, gave myself a proper speaking to,' Pullen told Metro. 'I won't say what I was saying to myself, but it was severe. I knew that this is do or die.'
The teenager would win the next three frames and get over the line with a 4-2 win.
'I'm really proud of myself and happy with how I've come through,' he said. 'There's a lot on the line, it feels like the be all or end all. Otherwise it's one more year to try and get back on again.
'I think Q School is a completely different thing to playing in the World Championship or anything.
'In the semi-finals, I was 3-0 up against Alfie [Davies]. I thought, 'Oh right, this is good, I'm confident.' Then I just hit a brick wall and it was awful. It was just so hard.
'Hopefully, I don't have to go back there for, well…forever. Now I've got to kick on and improve as a player and learn.'
After an encouraging first season on tour, the second was a bit of a disaster, winning just £7,500 in prize money and feeling confidence drain away.
'It was much harder the second year,' he said. 'Just a lot of knocks and I sort of got into a rhythm of losing. It was horrible, to be honest.
'Maybe I lost a tiny bit of enjoyment because of constant losing. It felt like…it was just really hard.
'But you've got to come out of it the other side. There's no point sulking, because that's going to get you nowhere, sadly. I wish sulking did get you somewhere because snooker players, in that department we're right up there. I think that's just the nature of the game, how hard it is.'
Far from deterred by his tough couple of seasons on tour, Pullen has banked the experience and feels ready to go again as an improved player.
'I think I've learned a lot from those two years,' he said. 'Now I know what to do, know what the craic when I'm turning up at all these different places. I look forward to the challenge ahead and I'll try my best and I'll be ready for it.'
The Yorkshireman has fixed the problem of losing a 'tiny bit of enjoyment' as his passion for the game is what drives his tireless practice at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds and ambition for decades more to come on tour.
'I've really enjoyed just doing what I want to do for the rest of my life,' he said. 'That's what I want to do, play snooker for the rest of my life.
'I think those last two years are a stepping stone and I've really learned a lot. I've got to use it to my advantage and try and correct things I did wrong.
'In snooker you have to sink or swim. Only the strongest survive, so you've got to become one of them.'
MORE: China's Bai Yulu retains World Women's Snooker Championship
MORE: Barry Pinches names career highlight, biggest regret and 'crying shame' in snooker
MORE: Alfie Burden talks World Seniors redemption, online abuse and Q School bloodbath
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Glasgow Times
16 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Joe Root climbs all-time Test ranks on perfect morning for England
Root overtook former India batter Rahul Dravid by reaching 30 on the third morning of the fourth Rothesay Test then leapfrogged ex-South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis by adding one extra run. He went to lunch on 63 not out – needing another 57 to overhaul former Australia captain Ricky Ponting's tally of 13,378 runs, although the great Sachin Tendulkar's record 15,921 is some way off. No doubt uppermost in the 34-year-old's mind is his and Pope's unbroken 135-run stand as England ended a wicketless session on 332 for two, leaving the hosts within 26 of India's 358 all out. After a quiet couple of Tests, Pope was put down on 48 by substitute wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel standing up to the stumps in his unbeaten 70, to build on the foundations laid by Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett. Root was given a gift from Bumrah's first ball and he cashed in off his pads for four after England resumed on 225 for two, although India were able to ruffle his and Pope's feathers early on. Root should have been run out on 22 but Ravindra Jadeja was off target with his throw, reprieving the Yorkshireman after a mid-pitch mix-up with Pope, who then got a leading edge off Bumrah which landed safe. The odd delivery from Mohammed Siraj scuttled along the floor to suggest signs of unevenness before Root climbed above Dravid and Kallis with singles into the offside in successive overs. Skipping up to third on the all-time list… Just GOAT things 🐐 — England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 25, 2025 Pope and Root took advantage of the singles on offer, with Siraj's unnecessary throw getting through Jurel and going to the boundary for overthrows summing up India's fruitless morning. Jurel was then unable to cling on to a very difficult chance when Anshul Kamboj drew Pope's under-edge, having moved directly behind the stumps to stop England's number three advancing down the track. Pope scampered through for a single to bring up his fifty moments later, while Root got to his half-century after Washington Sundar's off-spin was belatedly introduced in the 69th over. Root's 104th score of 50 or more took him above Kallis and Ponting, leaving only Tendulkar, with 119, ahead of him.


Glasgow Times
2 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
England's Joe Root up to second on all-time Test run-scorers list after century
Root overtook former India batter Rahul Dravid by reaching 30 on the third morning of the fourth Rothesay Test and adding another extra run saw him leapfrog ex-South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis. In getting to 120 moments before tea as England established a healthy first-innings lead at Emirates Old Trafford, Root overhauled former Australia captain Ricky Ponting's tally of 13,378 runs. Only the near-sacred haul of 15,921 runs made by India's celebrated Sachin Tendulkar remains for Root although no doubt uppermost in the 34-year-old's mind is rubberstamping England's dominance. He went to tea on 121 not out, with great mate Ben Stokes unbeaten at the other end on 36, out of England's 433 for four and a lead of 75 against an increasingly battered and bruised India. His 38th Test hundred put him joint fourth among the most prolific centurions in the format, equalling Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, as Root trod where England's top-three could not. As with Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, who laid excellent foundations for England with a 166-run opening stand in reply to India's 358, Ollie Pope could not turn fifty into a hundred, dismissed for 71. Both Pope and Harry Brook were dismissed by Washington Sundar, curiously overlooked until the 69th over, but the drift he was able to find delayed India taking the second new ball after a frustrating morning. The moment. And he's not done yet… — England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 25, 2025 Jasprit Bumrah gave a gift first up when he strayed on to Root's legs and was tucked away for four although the Yorkshireman survived a close lbw review on 21 and then should have been run out on 22. Ravindra Jadeja was off-target with his throw after a mid-pitch mix-up which left Root stranded. Aside from the one miscommunication, Root and Pope's frequent singles drove India to distraction. Root used them with nudges into the offside within the space of three deliveries to climb above Dravid and Kallis and then did so again to reach a 104th 50-plus Test score – only Tendulkar has more. By then, Pope had also got to his fifty, having been reprieved on 48 after offering the toughest of chances. Dhruv Jurel had come up to the stumps to combat Pope advancing down the wicket to Anshul Kamboj but a devilish under-edge did not stick in the substitute wicketkeeper's gloves. With India running out of ideas, Sundar was thrown the ball just before lunch and operated in tandem with fellow spinner Jadeja upon the resumption. It was Sundar who got the breakthrough, ending a 144-run stand as he found a bit of drift with a ball 76 overs old as Pope overbalanced and edged to slip. It's Tea on Day 3 of the Manchester Test! #TeamIndia picked 2 wickets in the second session! We shall be back for the third & final session of the Day 🔜 Updates ▶️ — BCCI (@BCCI) July 25, 2025 Brook was drawn out of his crease, again done in by the drift, and stumped for three as India stuck with the old ball, but Root, regarded as one of the world's best players of spin, was unflustered. By the time India took the new ball, England were in the lead and Root was in the 90s. There was the odd dicey moment, with Root struck on the pad by Mohammed Siraj on 98 and the ball crept by leg stump but Bumrah bowled just one over with the new ball before leaving the field, amid suspicions of an ankle injury. That left the gentler Kamboj to take over and a leg-side delivery was tickled fine for Root's 12th four and 178-ball hundred before he took in the applause and was congratulated by Stokes. With Siraj also limping, Root ticked over and moved level with Ponting with a back foot punch off Shardul Thakur and went ahead of him by advancing to Kamboj, opening his blade and guiding down behind point for one in the penultimate over before tea.


Belfast Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Two top Belfast boxers added to Crocker-Donovan 2 undercard
The eagerly anticipated main event will be staged at Windsor Park on Saturday September 13 as the two Irish boxers fight it out for IBF Welterweight title that was vacated by Jaron Ennis. Middleweight Agyarko – aged 28 - is undefeated in 17 bouts with seven knockouts to his name. Davis, however, will be a stern opponents. The Yorkshireman will be determined to get back to winning ways after defeats to Josh Kelly and Serhii Bohachuk. The Kelly loss at Wembley Stadium in September was Davis' first professional defeat after 13 wins. 35 year-old Tyrone McKenna will also fight on the Crocker-Donovan undercard at Windsor Park, where he will face Dylan Moran. Moran will be keen for revenge on the Belfast man, who defeated him in Waterford last December. McKenna will also be desperate to win following his punishing 10th round stoppage at the hands of Harlem Eubank in Brighton in March. High-profile MMA star-turned-boxer Molly McCann is also expected to appear on the Matchroom ticket, as is British Olympian Patrick Brown and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Aaron Bowen.