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The World Snooker Championship draw has been made and the top 16 now know who they will face at the Crucible.
The main event gets underway on Saturday morning, the start of 17 days of action at the iconic Sheffield theatre, with the champion being crowned on May 4.
The tournament has already been going since April 8 when the qualifying process began at the English Institute of Sport.
The 16 qualifiers have emerged from that gruelling process and have now learned which elite star they will take on at the famous home of the World Championship.
Ronnie O’Sullivan remains the star of the snooker show and he will take on Chinese debutant He Guoqiang.
Zhao Xintong is the defending champion after becoming the first player from China to conquer the Crucible when he beat Mark Williams in last year’s final.
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The Cyclone will look to beat the infamous Crucible curse this year and will start his campaign on Saturday against Liam Highfield.
After winning a hat-trick of ranking titles since the start of February, Zhao is the bookmakers’ favourite to lift the trophy in Sheffield again.
However, he will have to break the curse to do so and become the only first-time champion to defend their title at the Crucible.
Having won the Tour Championship earlier this month, he will also have to become just the second player since 1998 to win the penultimate event of the season and then the World Championship.
2026 World Snooker Championship draw
Zhao Xintong (1) vs Liam Highfield
Ding Junhui (16) vs Dave Gilbert
Xiao Guodong (9) vs Zhou Yuelong
Shaun Murphy (8) vs Fan Zhengyi
John Higgins (5) vs Ali Carter
Ronnie O’Sullivan (12) vs He Guoqiang
Chris Wakelin (13) vs Liam Pullen
Neil Robertson (4) vs Pang Junxu
Kyren Wilson (3) vs Stan Moody
Mark Allen (14) vs Zhang Anda
Barry Hawkins (11) vs Matthew Stevens
Mark Williams (6) vs Antoni Kowalski
Mark Selby (7) vs Jak Jones
Wu Yize (10) vs Lei Peifan
Si Jiahui (15) vs Hossein Vafaei
Judd Trump (2) vs Gary Wilson
There are four debutants in the draw this year, with Stan Moody, Liam Pullen, Antoni Kowalski and He Guoqiang coming through qualifying.
Moody becomes the first British teenager to make his Crucible debut since world number one Judd Trump did so in 2007.
With six Chinese players qualifying and joining the five seeds, the 11 representatives from China in the Crucible field is a new record, beating last year’s 10.
World Snooker Championship first round schedule
*donates final session
Saturday April 18
10am
Zhao Xintong vs Liam Highfield
Mark Allen vs Zhang Anda
2.30pm
Xiao Guodong vs Zhou Yuelong
Mark Williams vs Antoni Kowalski
7pm
Zhao Xintong vs Liam Highfield*
Barry Hawkins vs Matthew Stevens
Sunday April 19
10am
Ding Junhui vs Dave Gilbert
Mark Allen vs Zhang Anda*
2.30pm
John Higgins vs Ali Carter
Barry Hawkins vs Matthew Stevens*
7pm
Xiao Guodong vs Zhou Yuelong*
Mark Williams vs Antoni Kowalski*
Monday April 20
10am
Ding Junhui vs Dave Gilbert*
Kyren Wilson vs Stan Moody
2.30pm
John Higgins vs Ali Carter*
Wu Yize vs Lei Peifan
7pm
Shaun Murphy vs Fan Zhengyi
Kyren Wilson vs Stan Moody*
Tuesday April 21
10am
Chris Wakelin vs Liam Pullen
Judd Trump vs Gary Wilson
2.30pm
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs He Guoqiang
Wu Yize vs Lei Peifan*
7pm
Shaun Murphy vs Fan Zhengyi*
Judd Trump vs Gary Wilson*
Wednesday April 22
10am
Chris Wakelin vs Liam Pullen*
Mark Selby vs Jak Jones
2.30pm
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs He Guoqiang*
Si Jiahui vs Hossein Vafaei
7pm
Neil Robertson vs Pang Junxu
Mark Selby vs Jak Jones*
Thursday April 23
2.30pm
Si Jiahui vs Hossein Vafaei*
7pm
Neil Robertson vs Pang Junxu*
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