I played Ronnie O’Sullivan on my UK Championship debut at 16 years old

Jackson Page has booked his spot astatine the Barbican for the UK Championship 7 years aft making his debut arsenic a 16-year-old against Ronnie O’Sullivan.

It was a brainsick juncture for a schoolboy to experience, playing successful beforehand of a afloat location successful York against the sport’s top icon.

The Welshman was beaten 6-3 but made an content connected the Rocket, who liked what helium saw from his opponent.

‘He’s a fantastic endowment and a earthy endowment with a large temperament,’ O’Sullivan said of Page astatine the time. ‘The kid has thing astir him.’

Page enjoyed a mates of bully wins successful qualifying to caput backmost to the Barbican this year, beating compatriot Jamie Clarke 6-4 and past scoring a good 6-2 triumph implicit Iran’s Hossein Vafaei.

After booking his instrumentality to the main stages of the UK Championship, the memories of playing O’Sullivan instantly sprung to mind.

‘I bash similar York arsenic a venue, the spot successful wide is rather nice. I retrieve erstwhile I was 16, my archetypal clip determination and I played Ronnie, it was packed close to the top. It was good,’ helium said.

‘It was great. I was lone a young kid then, I mislaid 6-3 to Ronnie but adjacent aft the lucifer determination was a large assemblage determination for maine to motion autographs.

‘As a 16-year-old kid it was a spot like, wow! But it was large there, I’m looking guardant to it again.’

Page was playing arsenic an amateur backmost successful 2017 and has been nonrecreational since 2019, but does not consciousness similar helium has kicked connected arsenic helium would liked.

This play has been encouraging, reaching his archetypal ranking last astatine the Championship League and a quarter-final astatine the caller International Championship, results which helium hopes and expects to spot much of.

‘It’s been rather disappointing for maine for a fewer years but hopefully present I tin found what I tin bash and get better,’ said the satellite fig 41.

‘I deliberation everyone feels the same, particularly due to the fact that I was winning everything arsenic a junior. Not that nary 1 could bushed me, but I didn’t suffer galore games. All of a abrupt you get connected circuit and you’re losing each the time, it’s similar “Oh my God!”

‘It’s conscionable hard work, but a mates of results spell your mode and it’s the top athletics successful the satellite truthful you’ve conscionable got to instrumentality the bully erstwhile it comes.’

MORE: Ken Doherty weighs up the UK Championship favourites and acheronian horses

MORE: Stephen Maguire fired up for UK Championship aft hitting nonrecreational debased point

MORE: Neil Robertson wants Judd Trump to region the curse he’s enactment connected him