The showpiece event of the snooker calendar is almost upon us. The 2025 World Championships gets underway this Saturday.
The tournament is set to bring the world’s best snooker players together at The Crucible once more. Kyren Wilson heads into this year’s competition as the reigning champion and will be hoping to defend his title.
Judd Trump, John Higgins and Mark Selby are among those gunning for glory along with Ronnie O’Sullivan, who has now discovered his first-round opponent – if he decides to play.
The Rocket has been missing from snooker since January amid huge frustrations over his game, but has now been drawn against his huge rival Ali Carter in the first round at the Crucible.
Wilson will kick off his title defence against Lei Peifan – one of a record 10 Chinese players in this year’s competition – while Selby has to play his friend Ben Woollaston.
Here is how the draw played out.
Thanks for following – scroll down to see the ties as they were drawn earlier.
Stay tuned to Mirror Sport for plenty more coverage over the coming days and weeks – if it happens, that Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Ali Carter tie will be particularly feisty.
Mark Selby doesn’t think that Ronnie O’Sullivan potentially using a fresh cue at the Crucible will affect him too much.
O’Sullivan has been frustrated with his game of late, and snapped his cue back in January, but Selby knows he can turn it on whenever it pleases him.
“I remember a few years ago, he beat me in the final and he blew everyone away, including me,” he said. “I think the cue he used then, he’d only had for a week and he went and won the triple crown event so he’s one of the few players who can do that, so I don’t think that will be a problem.”
“I don’t think either of them will be happy with that draw,” Selby said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “It’s great that Ronnie is in the competition. We’ve not seen him since January, so it’s great. I want him to play and, as it stands, he’s playing which is good for the game.
“As you said, Carter is one of the toughest qualifiers to get drawn against. He’s played Ronnie in the world final and played in the Masters final a few years ago. It’s a horrible draw.”
Si Jiahui vs David Gilbert
Luca Brecel vs Ryan Day
Kyren Wilson vs Lei Peifan
Mark Selby vs Ben Woollaston
Barry Hawkins vs Hossein Vafaei
Mark Williams vs Wu Yize
Xiao Guodong vs Matt Selt
Neil Robertson vs Chris Wakelin
John Higgins vs Joe O’Connor
Jak Jones vs Zhao Xintong
Mark Allen vs Fan Zhengyi
Ding Junhui vs Zak Surety
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Ali Carter
Shaun Murphy vs Dan Wells
Zhang Anda vs Pang Junxu
Judd Trump vs Zhou Yuelong
1. Kyren Wilson (Eng)
2. Judd Trump (Eng)
3. John Higgins (Sco)
4. Mark Selby (Eng)
5. Ronnie O’Sullivan (Eng)
6. Mark Williams (Wal)
7. Luca Brecel (Bel)
8. Mark Allen (NI)
9. Neil Robertson (Aus)
10. Ding Junhui (Chi)
11. Barry Hawkins (Eng)
12. Zhang Anda (Chi)
13. Si Jiahui (Chi)
14. Xiao Guodong (Chi)
15. Shaun Murphy (Eng)
16. Jak Jones (Wal)
The draw for the World Championship starts in five mintues.
Stay tuned to find out the first-round ties.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has not been happy with his game recently.
He was so frustrated that he snapped his cue in January, pulled out of the Masters on medical grounds, missed the German Masters in Berlin and elected not to play at the Welsh Open.
He also withdrew from the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong in March and has not played in anything apart from a best-of-seven match since his first-round defeat to Barry Hawkins at the UK Championship in November.
Defending champion Kyren Wilson is unsurprisingly among the favourites for the World Championship.
He’s joined by fellow ex-champions Judd Trump and Mark Selby at the top of the list, while as a seven-time winner, Ronnie O’Sullivan will always have a chance, regardless of his recent form, if he decides to play.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has enjoyed himself at the Crucible over the years.
He has lifted the trophy in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020, and 2022.
Remarkably, since making his Crucible debut in 1993 at the age of 17, The Rocket has never missed the competition.
We eagerly await news of his decision for this year…
One standout name among the seeds is Ronnie O’Sullivan. The Rocket has won a record seven times but there is doubt over whether he will play at this year’s edition.
Speaking recently, he said: “I haven’t made my mind up, I’ll probably make a decision on maybe the 17th or 18th of April.
“I’d love to be able to go there and play, I’d love to be able to have the confidence to be able to get my cue out and go and play snooker.
“I just need to give myself as much time as possible to see where I’m at with it, and see whether it’s something I’m going to be able to do.”
The top 16 seeds for the tournament have already been decided They include reigning champion Kyren Wilson, Jonh Higgins, Mark Selby and many more of the world’s standout players.
The full seeding:
1) Kyren Wilson, 2) Judd Trump, 3) John Higgins, 4) Mark Selby
5) Ronnie O’Sullivan, 6) Mark Williams, 7) Luca Brecel, 8) Mark Allen
9) Neil Robertson, 10) Ding Junhui, 11) Barry Hawkins, 12) Zhang Anda
13) Si Jiahui 14) Xiao Guodong, 15) Shaun Murphy, 16) Jak Jones
Good morning everyone and welcome along to Mirror Sport’s coverage of the draw for the 2025 Snooker World Championship.
We’ll be getting underway at 8:45 so make sure you stay tuned for all of the build-up, coverage and the reaction from Media City UK.
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