Tomorrow the World Snooker Championship begins
32 players.
17 days.
1 winner
At the famous Crucible theatre in Sheffield, Zhao Xintong will be looking to become the first player to retain the title since Mark Selby in 2017, and break the Crucible curse in the process.
Zhao, who last year played every single match possible on route to victory, beating Mark Williams 18-12 in the final, has shown that this year he might be the player to break the curse.
Zhao has won five ranking trophies this season, winning three of the last five tournaments, the most recent of which was the Tour Championship, where he dropped eight frames across the entire tournament. With impressive victories beating John Higgins 10-1 in the semi-final and Judd Trump 10- 3 in the final.
Xintong will face Liam Highfield tomorrow morning to kick off the tournement, the lowest-ranked player at this year’s World. Highfield is currently ranked World Number 92.
Last year’s runner-up and three-time winner Mark Williams will face Polish debutant Antoni Kowalski
The Rocket Ronnie O’ Sullivan will face Chinese debutant He Guoqian, in a bid for a record-breaking eighth world title.
There are two other debutants at the Crucible this year. 19-year-old British Sensation Stan Moody will face the 2025 World champion and this year’s Masters winner, Kyren Wilson and Liam Pullen will face Chris Waklin.
World Number one Judd Trump will face Scotland’s Garry Wilson, who was the final player to confirm his spot at this year’s World Championship.
Four-time champion John Higgins, who has had a very consistent season but with no silverware to show for it, is looking for a fifth world title, and his first since 2011, when he starts his campaign against Ali Carter.
With the winner of that match potentially facing Ronnie O’ Sullivan in the next round
Another four-timer winner, Mark Selby, will play 2024 runner-up Jak Jones, who has yet to get back to his best form since reaching the final two years ago.
There are two all-Chinese ties in a year which sees the most Chinese players qualify for the competition, with 11, which beats last year’s previous high of ten.
Xiao Guodong will take Zhou Yuelong and Wu Yize will face Lei Peifan.
2005 winner Shaun Murphy takes on Fan Zhengyi, Ding Junhui plays 2024 semi-finalist Dave Gilbert, Mark Allen will play Zang Anda and Si Jiahui will play Iran’s Hossein Vafaei.
2010 champion Neil Robertson will be looking for a long-awaited second world championship at the Crucible meets Pang Junxu.
Two Crucible runner-ups, Barry Hawkins and Matthew Stevens, go head to head in Stevens’ first appearance at the Crucible since 2022.
Once again, it looks to be a great tournament.
