Lei Peifan’s emotional reaction to stunning Crucible upset of Kyren Wilson

Lei Peifan loved his first Crucible experience, and it is no surprise as it saw him beat defending champion Kyren Wilson on the opening day of this year’s World Snooker Championship.

Wilson came into the event as one of the favourites after a brilliant season as world champion and things got off to a fine start, leading 6-3 after the first session.

However, the 21-year-old debutant had an incredible evening in Sheffield, winning seven frames on the spin to lead 9-2.

The Warrior fought back, claiming three on the bounce to force a decider, but Lei held his nerve to make a break of 66 in the last and secure a mammoth upset.

The world number 39 admitted he didn’t fancy he chances when he was drawn to play the world champion, but it was excitement and enjoyment rather than nerves for him on the sport’s most famous stage.

‘I didn’t think I had much chance when the draw came out. But the moment I stepped into the arena and saw the crowd, I just felt so excited,’ he told WST. ‘It really lived up to what I saw on TV all those years ago.

‘I was definitely feeling pressure towards the end. I calmed myself down and told myself not to over-think, just to let go and play freely.

‘I really enjoyed playing here. The crowd, the lighting, the whole atmosphere was amazing. I was fully immersed and happy throughout the match.’

Barry Hawkins and Hossein Vafaei were playing their first session on the other table, but that finished just before the decider in Wilson vs Lei, which made for an extra special, one-table atmosphere.

‘In the deciding frame when the curtain came up, it felt like I was in a final,’ said Lei. ‘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.’

Lei was a shock winner of the Scottish Open earlier this season, having never been beyond the last 16 of a ranking event before he lifted the trophy in Edinburgh.

He is now backing that up on the biggest stage and says the feelings are similar.

‘It feels amazing. The Scottish Open was my first title and this was my Crucible debut — both moments are very special to me,’ he said. ‘The emotions were just as intense.’

Ronnie O’Sullivan was watching on in the TNT Sports studio and felt that how he won the Scottish Open last year showed that he is a serious player.

‘I think when he played in that tournament in Scotland he played Mark Allen in the semis and Mark was playing well,’ recalled the Rocket. ‘He was 5-3 up on this boy and he came back and won 6-5. To do that against someone like Mark Allen…an unbelievable match player

‘Then to go on and beat Wu Yize, who is the much more expansive, big break-building player. He just played his game, he’s a very, very, very good match player with a fantastic temperament.’

O’Sullivan admitted that his first impression of Lei was not great, first playing him as a very young man in 2019, but things have changed.

‘I must admit, when he first came on the scene, I played him a couple of times and I thought this geezer can’t play,’ said the seven-time world champion. ‘He’s one of them where I thought, he’s going nowhere this guy. His cue action was under one thing, he was missing a lot of balls.

‘A lot of the Chinese players come over and you think, cor have you seen him play. Like [Zhao] Xintong at 15.

‘Some of them come over and they don’t look great. He’s won that tournament and now you watch him play and he’s a handful for anybody now.’

O’Sullivan felt that Wilson may have come into the World Championship having played too much snooker in recent months, but nevertheless thought the Warrior played pretty well, Lei just deserved credit for the victory.

‘I don’t think Kyren played that bad, I think the other guy played well,’ he said. ‘Kyren had one of them sessions where nothing went right, the balls were going against him. That’s just the way things go sometimes.

‘He’s played really good snooker today. Great temperament. Hits all solid, fancies his chances, played a great last frame, can obviously play well under pressure. That’s a great asset to have.’

Wilson told TNT Sports of his shock loss: ‘I didn’t feel like I did too much wrong early on in the session. I maybe missed a brown but, other than that, it felt like the snooker gods were against me tonight.

‘I had it all going wrong but take nothing away from Lei Peifan – he held himself together extremely well as a debutant and I wish him all the best for the rest of the tournament.’

He added: ‘But I’m absolutely gutted. It’s not the way I wanted to end the season. It’s very difficult to prepare for a World Championships with so much media stuff to do in the lead up so I sympathise with all the past champions.

‘I’d have it no other way – it means I won last year and my name is on the trophy – but I’m obviously not happy to have lost.

‘It kind of feels like the season is wasted losing that match, but that’s just the winner in me. I want to win all the time. Looking forward to spending a bit of time with the family now and hopefully I’ve done them proud today and I gave it my all.’

Lei now takes on either last year’s runner-up Jak Jones or Zhao Xintong in the last 16.