Kyren Wilson says his shock World Championship loss to Lei Peifan is “really hard to take”.
The 2024 world champion became another huge victim of the so-called “Crucible Curse” as he suffered a surprising loss to debutant Peifan on the first day of the tournament.
Wilson seemed to be set for a comfortable victory when he took charge of the contest, leading one stage 6-2.
But Peifan, winner of the Scottish Open title this season, had other ideas coming back and showing no signs of fear on his Crucible debut.
Peifan won a vital frame before the close of the first session to make it 6-3 before winning the first six frames of the evening session.
Wilson launched a comeback to set up an exciting final frame decider on the first day of the 2025 World Championship. But Peifan again showed tremendous determination as he recorded a memorable win at the famous Sheffield venue.
It will go down as one of the biggest shocks in Crucible history due to the context of the situation. Wilson went into the tournament as the world number two having won four ranking events this season.
Peifan, despite winning the Scottish Open title, had to go through the qualifiers and had not played at the Crucible before. Many can be daunted by playing at the venue for the first time but Peifan was not.
Also Wilson took charge of the match at 6-2, further underlining Peifan’s achievement to beat the defending champion.
Wilson said: “It’s really hard to take, it really hurts. Lei potted some incredible balls and held himself together in the end, he seems like a cool character and I wish him all the best.
“It has been a long season, I have done so much. I am proud of the way I have handled it and hopefully I have given you guys (the media) plenty to write about.”
“It brought back so many childhood memories”
Peifan said he enjoyed every part of the occasion as his childhood memories of watching snooker on the TV became “real”.
He said: “I really enjoyed playing here – the crowd, the lighting, the whole atmosphere was amazing. I was fully immersed and happy throughout the match.
“In the deciding frame when the curtain came up, it felt like I was in a final. I used to watch that scene on TV when I was a kid – now it was real, I was actually sitting next to that table. It brought back so many childhood memories.
“And of course, it made me want to win even more – I’ve worked hard to get here, and I wanted to give something back to the fans and to myself.”
