Ronnie O’Sullivan will begin his quest for a record eighth World Snooker Championship title against Chinese debutant He Guoqiang after an intriguing draw for the event in Sheffield.
O’Sullivan is currently tied with Stephen Hendry on seven world titles at the Crucible Theatre and the 50-year-old has found some confidence in his game recently that suggests he could surpass the Scot and take the record outright in three weeks’ time.
“I started playing alright a couple of weeks ago,” said O’Sullivan after beating John Higgins in the final of an exhibition in Ireland over the weekend. “For three years, I have been very poor, pretty much every day. So I didn’t think I’d ever have another day where I’d feel good. But the last month I’ve been feeling alright. So it was nice to feel comfortable at the table.”
O’Sullivan and Higgins might end up squaring off on a much bigger stage, as the ‘class of ‘92’ rivals are slated to meet in the second round at the Crucible should the four-time world champion beat two-time finalist Ali Carter in a fascinating first-round clash and ‘the Rocket’ emerge triumphant against He in a match that will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon.
The 25-year-old Chinese cueman actually leads the head to head with the seven-time world champion 2-1, after beating him twice in 2024 – at the Championship League and the English Open – and impressively overcame world No 18 and reigning Northern Irish Open champion Jack Lisowski 10-5 in the final round of qualifying.
He will be one of a record 11 Chinese players lining up at the Crucible – beating last year’s previous high of 10 – and also one of four debutants, with Stan Moody, Liam Pullen and Antoni Kowalski joining him as part of the young guard to emerge from qualifying.
Teenage wonderkid Moody was hospitalised with tonsillitis during qualifying but discharged himself before edging past Jiang Jun 10-9 to book his spot and faces a mouthwatering tie against 2024 world champion and No 3 seed Kyren Wilson, which begins on Monday morning.
Pullen, 20, will square off against 2025 Scottish Open champion Chris Wakelin in round one, while 22-year-old Kowalski – who became the first Polish player to reach the Crucible and saved his tour card in the process by emerging from qualifying – has a plum tie against 51-year-old, three-time world champion Mark Williams.
Defending champion Zhao Xintong, who made history 12 months ago and headlines the record number of Chinese players as he looks to break the ‘Crucible Curse’, begins against Liam Highfield in the opening match of the tournament on Saturday, while four-time champion Mark Selby faces 2024 finalist Jak Jones and world No 1 Judd Trump is handed a tricky opener against three-time ranking event winner Gary Wilson.
World Snooker Championship first-round draw in full
- 1 Zhao Xintong (China) v Liam Highfield (England)
- 16 Ding Junhui (China) v David Gilbert (England)
- 9 Xiao Guodong (China) v Zhou Yuelong (China)
- 8 Shaun Murphy (England) v Fan Zhengyi (China)
- 5 John Higgins (Scotland) v Ali Carter (England)
- 12 Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) v He Guoqiang (China)
- 13 Chris Wakelin (England) v Liam Pullen (England)
- 4 Neil Robertson (Australia) v Pang Junxu (China)
- 3 Kyren Wilson (England) v Stan Moody (England)
- 14 Mark Allen (Northern Ireland) v Zhang Anda (China)
- 11 Barry Hawkins (England) v Matthew Stevens (Wales)
- 6 Mark Williams (Wales) v Antoni Kowalski (Poland)
- 7 Mark Selby (England) v Jak Jones (Wales)
- 10 Wu Yize (China) v Lei Peifan (China)
- 15 Si Jiahui (China) v Hossein Vafaei (Iran)
- 2 Judd Trump (England) v Gary Wilson (England)
