Meet Australia’s best up-and-coming snooker sensation in Brisbane’s Xavier Daw

Meet the Australian teen who has become the country’s next snooker sensation after switching pub pool tables for national championships.

Watch out for Australia’s next snooker assassin – a Brisbane boy who has an unprecedented four national championships under his belt as a teenager.

Paddington’s Xavier Daw stands as one of the country’s most gifted in the sport, having already claimed the Under 18 Snooker and Billiards Champion and the Under 21 Snooker and Billiards Champion titles.

2022 QLD Open Billiards Champion, Xavier Daw.

If the bid for snooker to be played at the Olympics is successful, the 18-year-old could compete on the biggest stage of all, the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

It all started with a gold coin and the eight-ball pool table of a pub he and father, Russell, stumbled across on one of the road trips they journeyed on when Daw was a youngster at Kelvin Grove State College.

Fast forward five years and countless hours perfecting his craft at Q-Masters in Milton and he’s represented Australia at the Junior World Championships in Russia and United Kingdom.

And he is only getting started.

2022 Sheffield, UK for the U18 World Snooker Championships.

When playing at the World Championships, Daw received invites from snooker academies in and around Sheffield – England’s powerhouse snooker city, which holds the biggest tournament in the world.

“He’s got a few things on his plate with university and work. It would be a good step and a big challenge,” father, Russell, said.

“The snooker world over there is a big challenge but it is one you need to take if you want to take on the world.”

2020 Australian U18 Snooker Champion.

Beyond the chance to live and breathe snooker in England lies even greater aspirations for young Daw with the dream of competing at the Olympics if snooker is included in time for 2032.

For someone of Daw’s age, 10 years to improve his skills could strengthen his chances of a competitive Olympic showcase against some of the best in the world.

Xavier Daw, said to have an excellent technique.

Daw said his main plan was to have a career playing snooker.

“The timing of the 2032 Olympics is just perfect … If it became an Olympic recognised sport it would be absolutely ridiculous,” he said.