World Snooker Championship qualifying 2023: Draw, schedule, TV and livestream details, Stephen Hendry plays

Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White headline an intriguing qualifying draw for the World Snooker Championship, while Ken Doherty, Barry Hawkins, Stephen Maguire, Hossein Vafaei, Anthony McGill, Marco Fu and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh also feature in the field.

Hendry has been drawn against James Cahill, giant-killer of Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Crucible in 2019, in the first round, while White could meet Marco Fu in the second round.

New women’s world champion Baipat Siripaporn enters at the first hurdle, as does record 12-time women’s winner Reanne Evans.

Sixteen spots are up for grabs at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, where the top 16 in the world rankings await.

WHEN IS WORLD SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING?

Qualifying for the World Snooker Championship runs from April 3-12 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

The lowest-ranked players must win four matches to reach the Crucible, while higher-ranked players will need two victories.

Judgement Day, when the fourth and final round decides who progresses to the main event, takes place from April 11-12.

HOW TO WATCH WORLD SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING

Reports and reaction from the best of the action will be available on eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport app.

WORLD SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING FORMAT

• Round one pits players ranked 81 to 112 against those seeded 113 to 144
• In round two, those 32 winners will face players ranked 49-80
• In round three, those 32 winners will face players ranked 17-48
• In round four, those 32 winners play each other, with the 16 winners going through to the Crucible

WORLD SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING SCHEDULE

Round 1

• Ashley Hugill v George Pragnell
• Fergal O’Brien v Liam Davies
• Zak Surety v Farakh Ajaib
• Ken Doherty v Reanne Evans
• Ng On Yee v Michael Holt
• Ben Mertens v Victor Sarkis
• Ryan Thomerson v Ian Martin
• James Cahill v Stephen Hendry
• Andrew Pagett v Gao Yang
• Oliver Brown v Ross Muir
• Andy Lee v Andrew Higginson
• Sean O’Sullivan v Liam Graham
• Peng Yisong v Michael Georgiou
• Sanderson Lam v Liam Pullen
• Dechawat Poomjaeng v Mink Nutcharut
• Barry Pinches v Ross Bulman
• John Astley v Steven Hallworth
• Himanshu Dinesh Jain v Daniel Wells
• Marco Fu v Martin O’Donnell
• Andres Petrov v Stan Moody
• Jamie O’Neill v Bulcsu Revesz
• Dean Young v Haydon Pinhey
• Mohamed Ibrahim v Anton Kazakov
• Dylan Emery v Hai Long Ma
• Michael Judge v Florian Nuessle
• Asjad Iqbal v Jenson Kendrick
• Aaron Hill v Baipat Siripaporn
• Allan Taylor v Filipp Kalnins
• Muhammad Asif v Iulian Boiko
• Alfie Burden v Rebecca Kenna
• Adam Duffy v Billy Joe Castle
• David Lilley v Rory McLeod

Round 2

• Lukas Kleckers v Hugill/Pragnell
• Scott Donaldson v O’Brien/Davies
• Xu Si v Surety/Ajaib
• Hammad Miah v Doherty/Evans
• Oliver Lines v Ng/Holt
• Julien Leclercq v Mertens/Sarkis
• Elliot Slessor v Thomerson/Martin
• Lei Peifan v Cahill/Hendry
• Duane Jones v Pagett/Yang
• Jackson Page v Brown/Muir
• Louis Heathcote v Lee/Higginson
• David Grace v O’Sullivan/Graham
• Mark Davis v Peng/Georgiou
• Mitchell Mann v Lam/Pullen
• Matthew Stevens v Poomjaeng/Mink
• Fraser Patrick v Pinches/Bulman
• Craig Steadman v Astley/Hallworth
• Ben Woollaston v Jain/Wells
• Jimmy White v Fu/O’Donnell
• Zhang Anda v Petrov/Moody
• Andy Hicks v O’Neill/Revesz
• Peter Lines v Young/Pinhey
• Mark Joyce v Ibrahim/Kazakov
• Ian Burns v Emery/Ma
• Si Jiahui v Judge/Nuessle
• Dominic Dale v Iqbal/Kendrick
• Michael White v Hill/Nuanthakhamjan
• Wu Yize v Taylor/Kalnins
• Stuart Carrington v Asif/Boiko
• Alexander Ursenbacher v Burden/Kenna
• Jak Jones v Duffy/Castle
• Gerard Greene v Lilley/McLeod

Round 3

• TBC [Ding Junhui, Gary Wilson or Ryan Day] v TBC
• Yuan Sijun v TBC
• Jamie Jones v TBC
• Pang Junxu v TBC
• Anthony Hamilton v TBC
• Jimmy Robertson v TBC
• Liam Highfield v TBC
• Zhou Yuelong v TBC
• Hossein Vafaei v TBC
• Martin Gould v TBC
• Joe O’Connor v TBC
• Sam Craigie v TBC
• Lyu Haotian v TBC
• Joe Perry v TBC
• Jamie Clarke v TBC
• David Gilbert v TBC
• Anthony McGill v TBC
• Cao Yupeng v TBC
• Noppon Saengkham v TBC
• Xiao Guodong v TBC
• Graeme Dott v TBC
• Matthew Selt v TBC
• Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v TBC
• Ricky Walden v TBC
• Tom Ford v TBC
• Jordan Brown v TBC
• Chris Wakelin v TBC
• Tian Pengfei v TBC
• Fan Zhengyi v TBC
• Stephen Maguire v TBC
• Robbie Williams v TBC
• Barry Hawkins v TBC

Round 4

WHEN IS THE WORLD SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP?

The World Snooker Championship runs from April 15 to May 1 at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre.

WHO HAS ALREADY QUALIFIED?

• Ronnie O’Sullivan
• Mark Selby
• Mark Allen
• Neil Robertson
• Judd Trump
• Shaun Murphy
• Kyren Wilson
• Mark Williams
• Luca Brecel
• John Higgins
• Ali Carter
• Jack Lisowski
• Stuart Bingham
• Robert Milkins

Two of Ding Junhui, Gary Wilson or Ryan Day will also qualify automatically, depending on results at the Tour Championship. The other player will drop into the third round of qualifying.

– – –