Morris Dancing in Sheffield

There was a mix of joy and despair for Irish fans at the World Championship Qualifiers in Sheffield

There was delight for David Morris as he completed a 10-6 win over Jamie Burnett to book his place in the Last 48, just one giant leap from a Crucible debut.

But despair for Michael Judge who lost 10-8 to Mark Joyce, who, like Morris, is striving to reach the Crucible for the first time.

Tony Drago's fairy tale was brought to an end by Ian McCulloch. The Preston man opened a 6-3 lead in the morning session, which left Drago too much to do in the night.

The Malta man fought valiantly, including a run of 107 to come back to 8-6 down, but McCulloch won the next and put his foot on the throttle with a match-winning 81.

China's Anda Zhang pulled off a brilliant 10-8 win over Andrew Higginson and in the process secured his tour place for next season.

Zhang led 6-3 at the half way stage but Higginson powered back into the match, helped by breaks of 91, 77, 71, 43 and 82 to win four frames on the spin to lead 8-7. But zhang rallied again to win the last three frame.

As the Last 64 matches concluded it became clear who had lost their place on the Main Tour at the end of the season.

The battle for Top 64, 48, 32 and 16 places will continue, but it's an end of an era as the Pro scene bids farewell to John Parrott.

Ironically it was Jimmy White's win over Mark Boyle that secured the Londoner's tour place but pushed John Parrott out of the Top 64.

Defeat to Stuart Pettman also spelled the end of professional status for David Roe, who had been on the circuit since 1986.

David Gray is another casualty. Relegated last season, he was saved by a wildcard, but a 10-2 drubbing by Jimmy Michie today confirmed Gray will be relegated again.

The full list of those losing their tour status is: