The first eight qualifiers have booked their spots at the Crucible after coming through World Snooker Championship qualifying in Sheffield, joining the top 16 in the world rankings who advance directly to the Crucible Theatre. Mark Davis is fighting to maintain his professional snooker status at World Championship qualifying, needing to win his opening qualifying match against Gao Yang to have a chance of maintaining that status. He has lost his last four World Championship qualifying matches in deciding frames.
Elliot Slessor enters World Championship qualifying needing two wins to reach the Crucible, while Zak Surety also needs to win two qualifying matches to return to the Crucible. Stan Moody, Liam Pullen, and Antoni Kowalski are debutants who have qualified for the Crucible, with Moody becoming the first British teenager since Judd Trump in 2007 to make his Crucible debut. Kowalski is the first Polish player to secure a Crucible debut.
The last two or three years I've had to go there needing to win to stay on. I've got to win probably at least two this year. So honestly, it's both of those.
Surety was the first Crucible debutant to make four centuries in his first match at the venue. Established players have secured their return to the Crucible, with Hossein Vafaei qualifying for the fifth consecutive season and Zhou Yuelong qualifying for the fourth time. The World Snooker Championship qualifiers began on April 6, with the main tournament taking place from April 18 to May 4 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
The top 16 in the world rankings go straight to the Crucible, and the official draw for the World Snooker Championship is scheduled for approximately 8:45am on Thursday, April 16. Zhao Xintong enters the tournament as the defending champion. Top contenders include Judd Trump, the current world No.
I've been a pro 35 years, on the tour non-stop. It's quite exciting that I've actually played some decent stuff there the last three years.
1, and Ronnie O'Sullivan, who is bidding for a record-breaking eighth world title. Former world champions Luca Brecel, Stuart Bingham, and Ken Doherty are involved in qualifying, with Doherty losing his qualifying match 10-5 to Patrick Whelan. Marco Fu won his opening round of World Championship qualifying 10-1.
Reanne Evans lost her qualifying match 10-7 to Vladislav Gradinari. Mark Davis's recent struggles in qualifying matches include those four consecutive deciding-frame losses.
The last three years, it's been 10-9, 10-9, 10-9, two of them have been on the black, so it's been pretty brutal, but at the same time, this has been the event where I've actually played some of my best stuff.
I just go there, try my best and I'd love to have another season or two because I do feel there's some decent snooker left in me. My results and performances might argue with that, but I do feel there's some decent stuff there.
If it's not to be, it's not to be. I'll come back and see what I do, see what I want to do, and then we go from there.