Zhang makes maximum 147 break at UK Championship

China’s Zhang Anda made the first maximum 147 break of this year’s UK Championship in his 6-3 first-round win over compatriot Lei Peifan.

Zhang, 32, potted 15 reds and 15 blacks and then all the colours in order with a packed crowd at the York Barbican giving him a standing ovation as he sunk the final ball.

His maximum break is the 21st in the history of the UK Championship, the 208th ever in professional snooker and the sixth in the 2024-25 season.

The achievement earns Zhang a £15,000 prize – although that will be shared if other players do likewise in the rest of this week’s tournament, which concludes on Sunday.

“This is my third time making a maximum and this time it just felt different as the UK Championship is a big event so I’m just very happy,” said Zhang.

“I opened the reds so well and then I knew I could make it. It was just very exciting, my heart was beating so quickly.”

Zhang’s 147 came when he was 2-1 down on table two, with the mid-session interval immediately following. He then won four of the next five frames to move into the last 16, where on Thursday he will play England’s Stuart Bingham, who fought back from 5-2 down to beat Mark Williams.

Zhang, the 11th seed, had previously made two 147s – against Anton Kazakov of Ukraine in qualifying for the 2022 European Masters and then again in the International Championship final against England’s Tom Ford a year later.

If Zhang makes another maximum in the rest of the tournament, in January’s Masters or the World Championship at the Crucible in Sheffield in April and May, then he would earn a £147,000 reward.