O'Sullivan to play China's He in Crucible round one

Seven-time winner Ronnie O'Sullivan begins his bid for a record-breaking eighth World Snooker Championship title with a match against China's debutant He Guoqiang at the Crucible.

The final of the 2026 World Snooker Championship will be played on Sunday, 3 May and Monday, 4 May

Seven-time winner Ronnie O'Sullivan will begin his bid for a record-breaking eighth World Snooker Championship title with a match against China's debutant He Guoqiang at the Crucible.

O'Sullivan, 50, will start his first-round tie at the Sheffield theatre on Tuesday and conclude the match on Wednesday.

Sixteen players came through qualifying this week at the English Institute of Sport and will join the world's top 16 ranked players at the tournament.

He, ranked 47th in the world, qualified for the Crucible for the first time with a win over England's Jack Lisowski on Wednesday.

Zhao Xintong became the first Chinese player to clinch the world title when he won the 2025 event and will be involved in the first session of the tournament on Saturday (10:00 BST).

He will face England's Liam Highfield, who advanced through four qualifying rounds.

The draw was made on BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast on Thursday.

Elsewhere, world number one Judd Trump will take on Gary Wilson and Masters champion Kyren Wilson will be up against 19-year-old debutant Stan Moody.

Four-time champion John Higgins faces two-time runner-up Ali Carter, while Mark Selby, also with four Crucible titles, plays 2024 runner-up Jak Jones.

The two other debutants England's Liam Pullen and Poland's Antoni Kowalski, will meet Chris Wakelin and three-time winner Mark Williams respectively.

O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry both have the most world titles in the modern era with seven apiece, with O'Sullivan winning his first one 25 years ago, in 2001.

World Championship 2026: Schedule, seeds & BBC TV schedule

The World Snooker Championship has been held at the Crucible every year since 1977

There will be 11 players from China in the 32 at the Crucible, a new record that beats the previous high of 10 who played last year, with two all-Chinese ties - Xiao Guodong versus Zhou Yuelong and Wu Yize against Lei Peifan.

Former winner Shaun Murphy takes on Fan Zhengyi, Ding Junhui plays David Gilbert and former world number one Mark Allen is against Zhang Anda.

Two Crucible runner-ups in Barry Hawkins and Matthew Stevens go head-to-head, Iran's Hossein Vafaei plays Si Jiahui and 2010 champion Neil Robertson meets Pang Junxu.

"Pang is a really good player, a great talent, all-around game and very calm," said Robertson. "We played at the UK Championship this season and I got the better of him there so hopefully I can repeat that.

"The match with Mark Selby and Jak Jones is one that really sticks out, that will be a tough, tough game.

"There are some brilliant matches and Ali Carter and John Higgins will be another really great game - there are a lot of really good ones."

The 17-day competition begins on Saturday, with the final starting on Sunday, 3 May and concluding the next day - with full coverage of the tournament live on the BBC.

The Crucible has staged the World Championship yearly since 1977 and last month it was announced it would remain there until 2045, with the venue set to be redeveloped to add up to 500 additional seats.

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