World Snooker Championship draw in full as O’Sullivan and Zhao learn opponents
With the World Snooker Championship beginning this weekend, the snooker world now knows who will be playing who in the opening matches at the Crucible
Ronnie O’Sullivan will face He Guoquiang in his first match of the World Snooker Championship, while defending champion Zhao Xintong will take on Liam Highfield. Last year, Zhao became the first ever Chinese player to emerge from the Crucible victorious.
He destroyed Mark Williams 18-12 in a one-side final in Sheffield. The bookies largely have the Chinese sensation down to win again, although the so-called ‘Crucible Curse’ may prevent him from retaining the title.
No first-time World Champion in the sport’s history has ever gone on to lift the title, while the last two winners, Luca Brecel and Kyren Wilson, have been knocked out in the first round of their title defence. Given the Cyclone recently swatted Judd Trump aside 10-3 to win the Tour Championship, few will want to bet against Zhao.
Meanwhile, O’Sullivan will be looking to win his first world title since 2022 and overtake Stephen Hendry. O’Sullivan and Hendry have both won seven world title and having reached the semi-final last year, the Brit will be itching to win the Triple Crown event again.
However, last year, Zhao put the former World No. 1 to the sword in the semi-final, overcoming the Rocket 17-7 on his way to the final.
The draw in full is below:
– Si Jiahui vs Hossein Vafaei
– Ronnie O’Sullivan vs He Guoqiang
– Wu Yize vs Lei Peifan
– Mark Selby vs Jak Jones
– Mark Allen vs Zhang Anda
– Ding Junhui vs David Gilbert
– Mark Williams vs Antoni Kowalski
– Zhao Xintong vs Liam Highfield
– Judd Trump vs Gary Wilson
– Chris Wakelin vs Liam Pullen
– Kyren Wilson vs Stan Moody
– Barry Hawkins vs Matthew Stevens
– Shaun Murphy vs Fan Zhengyi
– Xiao Guodong vs Zhou Yuelong
– John Higgins vs Ali Carter
– Neil Robertson vs Pang Junxu
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