109 players and one corridor to WST: Q Tour Europe heads to Sofia

There are championship moments that last exactly as long as a handshake. In Leeds, Sanderson Lam just experienced one of those moments when he defeated Farakh Ajaib in the final of Q Tour Europe's first event and lifted the trophy amid applause that had not yet faded. But those familiar with qualifying events understand a simple truth: an opening title is never worth as much as the ticket that moves you forward. The second event of the WPBSA-organized series has been confirmed in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, and the entire route back to the WST for European players will pass through a tournament of 109 players, each carrying a cue and a private reason. Q Tour Europe belongs to the WPBSA system and works as a stepping stone toward the WST. It is the place for players who do not hold professional tour cards or who are trying to find their way back after losing their place on the main tour. They play events across Europe, accumulate points from every match, and then, based on overall performance, earn the right to advance to the Q Tour Global play-offs. At this final gateway, the WST cards are decided. So each Q Tour Europe event is not merely a regional tournament; it is one piece of a survival puzzle for professional cueists. Looking from Leeds, Sanderson Lam is the name on everyone's lips. He just won the first event, beating Farakh Ajaib in the final, and he enters Sofia as the leader in the mental race. But based on my years of experience following these tournaments, I know that early-season victories often create a false sense of security. In an event attracting 109 players, nobody can think about a WST card before getting past their own third or fourth match. Every frame, every decisive shot can change the entire trajectory of a season. Sofia is not an unfamiliar destination for those of us who chase stories. It is one of those places regularly appearing on the calendar of European amateur and semi-professional circuits, where travel costs, table quality and the severity of scheduling often speak louder than any promotional words. Fans see a tournament. I see dozens of flights, hundreds of hotel nights and countless hurried meals between sessions. Young players from Europe, former professionals searching for revival, and talents from regions without a structured system all gather in one city to chase a single goal: the right to stand in the professional world rankings list. What makes Q Tour Europe revealing is the way it exposes the line between amateur and professional. A player can be excellent in the practice room, can produce beautiful cue shots, but when he enters a long-haul event where opponents are no longer familiar faces from a local club, everything changes. The arena is empty, money still flows, and pressure wears everyone down. With 109 players registered for the Sofia event, the number of matches to be completed is enormous, leaving no room for slow starts. Anyone going deep must survive a long stretch of tense days, where the body grows tired and the mind is tested constantly. These very conditions make Q Tour a far more honest test than friendly matches or local tournaments. My profession taught me one thing: I do not chase news. I chase the silence between two interview answers. The silence of Sanderson Lam after his Leeds title is being watched across Europe. Does he have enough composure to handle another event with new rivals, in a new city, on tables that may not be perfect? The answer lies not in his cueing technique but in how he manages energy, how he faces a bad day and how he keeps focus when the trophy has just called his name. Farakh Ajaib, the man who lost to Sanderson Lam in the Leeds final, is the name I find more interesting. A player who just lost a final is often very dangerous in the next event. He has already tasted the big stage and still carries the hunger for a title. While Sanderson Lam must defend what he achieved, Farakh Ajaib can use all his strength to attack. For me, the results table is the only proof of a player's affair with the sport; it never lies, but it only describes the past. In Sofia, the past in Leeds will not help anyone reach the final. The attention directed at Sanderson Lam could be the biggest trap of this event. Everyone wants to see the first-event champion compete, everyone waits to see whether he can repeat the feat, but that unintentionally provides a cloak of protection for the underestimated. Younger, lesser-known players under no media pressure will arrive in Sofia unnoticed. They can lose in the first round without losing anything, but if they win a few matches in a row, they will start believing in themselves. Q Tour Europe has seen many such surprises, and Sofia may well be the next place where a new name tears apart every prediction. To understand how much potential a player truly has, count his wins in low-profile tournaments, not the promises often made about a WST future. It is in events like Q Tour Europe that one sees who is resilient, who is disciplined and who is ready to make sacrifices. I have watched many players with impressive technique disappear after one season because they could not handle the schedule, and I have also seen less flashy players quietly move through rounds until they claimed a place on the main tour. Those quiet figures, the people who prepare the cues, clean the tables, arrange travel, take care of meals and prepare the mental approach before each match, are the real heroes of this long journey. A Q Tour Europe event in Sofia is not just news for the international snooker community. For Vietnamese fans, it reminds us of a gap that football, billiards or snooker all have to face: the path to becoming professional does not begin with social-media praise, it begins with accepting long trips, small tournaments and rankings few people ever check. Until we are ready to count every win in obscure venues like Sofia, the WST dream of a Vietnamese cueman will remain an open question. Have we ever asked ourselves: when will a Vietnamese cue appear at a Q Tour event, not as a spectator, but as one of the 109 names stepping into the light?