Farakh Ajaib
 | |
| Born | 3 February 1991 Blackburn, England |
|---|---|
| Sport country |  England (until 2021) Pakistan (since 2021)[1] |
| Professional | 2020–2022, 2024-present |
| Highest ranking | 76 (August 2025) |
| Best ranking finish | Last 16 (2022 European Masters) |
Farakh Ajaib (born 3 February 1991) is a British Pakistani professional snooker player from Lancashire.
Career
[edit]In 2018, Ajaib was crowned the inaugural East Lancashire Snooker Championship winner.[2] He was a ‘top-up’ player for several main tour events in 2018/19 – reward for a solid 2018 Q School campaign.[3] At the third event of the 2020 Q School at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, Ajaib clinched a two-year Tour Card on to the 2020–21 and 2021–22 snooker seasons.[4]
At the 2020 English Open, Ajaib defeated Rod Lawler 4–0 before losing 4–3 to Zhou Yuelong in a close match described as a “marathon”.[5]
Competing at the 2022 European Masters in August, 2022 Ajaib lost to Judd Trump in a deciding frame in a last 16 match in which Ajaib had trailed 4–2 but had left Trump needing three snookers at 4–4.[6]
He was relegated from the tour in 2023 but regained his place the following year, coming through Q School with a final round win over Iulian Boiko to earn a two-year place starting from the 2024-25 snooker season.[7]
In June 2025, He was drawn in the round-robin stage of the 2025 Championship League against Si Jiahui, Artemijs Žižins and Kayden Brierley, recording a win over Brierley and a draw with Si Jiahui and was the only player in the group to win a single frame against Zizins.[8][9] He reached the last-32 of the 2025 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.[10]
He was also drawn to face former world champion Judd Trump again at the 2025 Wuhan Open.[11] He reached the last-64 of the 2025 Xi'an Grand Prix in September 2025, with a 5-4 win over Zhang Anda, recovering 54 point deficit in the decider to win on the final black.[12] He recorded a victory on 11 December 2025 against Stephen Maguire at the 2025 Snooker Shoot Out.[13] After dropping off the tour following the conclusion of the 2025-26 season, he entered Q School in May 2026, losing in event one to Joel Connolly of Northern Ireland.[14]
Performance and rankings timeline
[edit]| Tournament | 2010/ 11 |
2011/ 12 |
2016/ 17 |
2018/ 19 |
2020/ 21 |
2021/ 22 |
2022/ 23 |
2024/ 25 |
2025/ 26 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking[nb 1] | [nb 2] | [nb 2] | [nb 2] | [nb 2] | [nb 3] | 89 | [nb 2] | [nb 3] | 85 | ||||||
| Ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||
| Championship League | Non-Ranking Event | RR | RR | RR | RR | RR | |||||||||
| Saudi Arabia Masters | Tournament Not Held | 2R | 5R | ||||||||||||
| Wuhan Open | Tournament Not Held | LQ | LQ | ||||||||||||
| English Open | Not Held | A | 1R | 2R | LQ | A | LQ | LQ | |||||||
| British Open | Tournament Not Held | 1R | A | LQ | LQ | ||||||||||
| Xi'an Grand Prix | Tournament Not Held | LQ | 1R | ||||||||||||
| Northern Ireland Open | Not Held | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | WD | LQ | LQ | |||||||
| International Championship | Not Held | A | A | Not Held | LQ | LQ | |||||||||
| UK Championship | A | A | A | A | 1R | 2R | LQ | LQ | LQ | ||||||
| Shoot Out | Non-Ranking | A | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 2R | |||||||
| Scottish Open | Not Held | A | A | 1R | LQ | A | 1R | LQ | |||||||
| German Masters | A | A | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | A | LQ | LQ | ||||||
| World Grand Prix | Not Held | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||
| Players Championship[nb 4] | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | ||||||
| Welsh Open | A | A | A | A | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | ||||||
| World Open | A | A | A | A | Not Held | LQ | LQ | ||||||||
| Tour Championship | Not Held | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||
| World Championship | A | A | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | ||||||
| Former ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||
| Paul Hunter Classic | Minor-Rank | LQ | A | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||
| Riga Masters | Not Held | A | LQ | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||
| Indian Open | Not Held | A | LQ | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||
| WST Pro Series | Tournament Not Held | RR | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||
| Turkish Masters | Tournament Not Held | LQ | Not Held | ||||||||||||
| Gibraltar Open | Not Held | A | 1R | 1R | 2R | Not Held | |||||||||
| European Masters | Not Held | A | A | 1R | LQ | 3R | Not Held | ||||||||
| WST Classic | Tournament Not Held | 1R | Not Held | ||||||||||||
| Performance Table Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LQ | lost in the qualifying draw | #R | lost in the early rounds of the tournament (WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin) |
QF | lost in the quarter-finals |
| SF | lost in the semi-finals | F | lost in the final | W | won the tournament |
| DNQ | did not qualify for the tournament | A | did not participate in the tournament | WD | withdrew from the tournament |
| NH / Not Held | means an event was not held | |||
| NR / Non-Ranking Event | means an event is/was no longer a ranking event | |||
| R / Ranking Event | means an event is/was a ranking event | |||
| MR / Minor-Ranking Event | means an event is/was a minor-ranking event | |||
Career finals
[edit]Amateur finals: 3 (1 title)
[edit]| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1 | 2009 | PIOS – Event 5 |  Anthony McGill |
0–6 |
| Winner | 1. | 2022 | Q Tour – Event 3 | Harvey Chandler |
5–3 |
| Runner-up | 2. | 2026 | Q Tour – Event 1 | Sanderson Lam |
1–4 |
References
[edit]- ↑ "Farakh Flies Flag For Pakistan". wst.tv. 14 January 2021. Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
- ↑ "Farakh Ajaib crowned East Lancashire Snooker Championship winner". Lancashire Telegraph.
- ↑ "Q School 2020: Event Three Qualifiers". 10 August 2020.
- ↑ "Q School 3 (2020) - snooker.org". www.snooker.org.
- ↑ "Accrington snooker player enjoying life on tour after English Open exit". Lancashire Telegraph.
- ↑ "JUDD TRUMP FENDS OFF DRAMATIC FARAKH AJAIB COMEBACK IN INCREDIBLE MATCH TO BOOK PLACE IN EUROPEAN MASTERS QUARTER-FINAL". Eurosport.com.
- ↑ "AJAIB, KOWALSKI, MANN AND TOTTEN RUN Q SCHOOL GAUNTLET". Wpbsa. 1 June 2024. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
- ↑ "CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE SNOOKER 2025". championshipleaguesnooker.co.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
- ↑ Caulfield, David (12 July 2025). "Artemijs Zizins impresses in Group 4 victory". Snookerhq. Retrieved 13 July 2025.
- ↑ "SAUDI ARABIA SNOOKER MASTERS DAY FOUR: O'CONNOR TO FACE ROCKET IN JEDDAH". wst.tv. 12 August 2025. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
- ↑ Kane, Desmond (23 June 2025). "Shaun Murphy, Neil Robertson and Mark Selby make flying start to new snooker season in Wuhan Open qualifiers". wst.tv. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
- ↑ "Moody battles to qualifying win". wst.tv. 2 September 2025. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
- ↑ "9CLUB SHOOT OUT DAY TWO EVENING". wst.tv. 11 December 2025. Retrieved 11 December 2025.
- ↑ "PAYNE-FUL Q SCHOOL DEFEAT FOR DAVIS". wst.tv. 21 May 2026. Retrieved 22 May 2026.
External links
[edit]
- Farakh Ajaib at WPBSA
- Farakh Ajaib at WPBSA SnookerScores
- Farakh Ajaib at the World Snooker Tour
- Farakh Ajaib at Snooker.org
