Disgraced snooker star Chang Bingyu pocketed a staggering £172,000 for his efforts in World Championship qualifying, even though he fell short of securing a place in the main draw. The Chinese potter was facing former Crucible king Luca Brecel when he produced a maximum 147 break.

The World Snooker Tour had been offering players the bumper prize for achieving two 147 breaks across the World Championship, UK Championship, Masters and Saudi Arabia Masters throughout the season. A £147,000 reward was handed to Ronnie O'Sullivan earlier in the campaign when he remarkably compiled two maximums in the same match at the Saudi Arabia Masters.

Chang's feat was not quite as spectacular, though he did enter World Championship qualifying with one 147 already to his name in the required tournaments. He had achieved the milestone at the UK Championship qualifying stage, before replicating the feat in his bout against Brecel.

But with no additional 147 breaks recorded for the remainder of the tournament proper, Chang pocketed a further £15,000 for the highest break prize. The ultimate reward for Chang would have been a berth in the World Championship main draw, but he lost 10-8.

EXPRESS SPORT ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page

It marked a welcome return to form for a player who recently served a 20-month ban for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal. He was one of 10 Chinese players embroiled in the affair, yet received one of the shorter suspensions, along with 2025 champion Zhao Xintong, after it was determined he had not fixed a match himself.

Chang has been attracting considerable praise since his comeback, with 2026 finalist Shaun Murphy having commended the youngster following a recent Welsh Open encounter where Chang beat the Magician in a sensational performance. He told TNT Sports at the time: "That was as good as anything I've ever witnessed in my 35 years playing snooker.

"I've always said that if your opponent doesn't miss, you can't win, and today I was proved right. That's what makes snooker a unique sport. There's no right of reply."

Meanwhile, in a separate BBC Wales interview, Murphy added: "That's the best performance in a best-of-seven match that I've ever seen. If that were Ronnie O'Sullivan or Judd Trump, it would be on the news. It was quite literally the best performance I've ever witnessed in a match of that length.

"I mean, you can copy and paste my comments from last week from the Players Championship. It's another absolutely outstanding performance from an opponent against me this season. I've got nothing but good things to say about it - what a performance and what a player."