World Snooker Championship draw: Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump learn opponents

That's all from us today.

Thanks for joining us to follow today's World Snooker Championship draw.

We'll be back when the action gets underway for real on the weekend.

Catch you then!

Stan Moody, the youngest Crucible debutant since Judd Trump nearly two decades ago, has been handed a dream first-round tie.

He will go up against one-time world champion Kyren Wilson when the tournament gets underway.

Moody has already been compared to darts superstar Luke Littler and will be hoping to pull off a seismic upset.

Dennis Taylor has named his two favourites to win the World Snooker Championship this year.

He told BOYLE Sports: "I think that Zhao Xintong is going to beat the Crucible Curse. I think he’s going to be the first player to defend his title. So that’s my tip to win it.

"And the second tip would be Ronnie to beat Stephen Hendry’s record. He’s held every other record except for the number of world titles.

"But to do it this year, he’s going to have to play at the top of his game because he could run into John Higgins in the second round.

"And he can run into Zhao, who beat him last year with a session to spare."

The late John Virgo will be honoured at a memorial service in Sheffield later today.

The legendary snooker commentator died in February at the age of 79.

He was known to many fans as the voice of the sport and worked right up until his death.

Just weeks earlier, he commentated on Kyren Wilson's victory over John Higgins in the Masters final.

Ronnie O'Sullivan could face John Higgins in round two if he gets past He Guoqiang in his opening match.

A meeting with Neil Robertson or Chris Wakelin could await the Rocket if he begins with two victories.

There are a record number of Chinese players competing at the Crucible this year.

A total of 11 have qualified for snooker's biggest tournament and will be hoping to do their country proud.

That contingent includes Zhao Xintong, who became the first Asian player to win the World Championship last year.

We already know who's playing on the opening day of the World Snooker Championship.

Mark Allen will kick off Saturday against Zhang Anda, with defending champion Zhao Xintong taking on Liam Highfield.

In the afternoon session, Xiao Guodong will play fellow Chinese player Zhou Yuelong while Mark Williams faces Antoni Kowalski.

The only match starting in the evening session will see Barry Hawkins go up against Matthew Stevens.

Some cracking matches in there!

Mark Selby meeting Jak Jones and Ali Carter facing John Higgins in the first round... some big names will fall early on!

Si Jiahui vs Hossein Vafaei

Ronnie O'Sullivan vs He Guoqiang

Wu Yize vs Lei Peifan

Mark Selby vs Jak Jones

Mark Allen vs Zhang Anda

Ding Junhui vs David Gilbert

Mark Williams vs Antoni Kowalski

Zhao Xintong vs Liam Highfield

Judd Trump vs Gary Wilson

Chris Wakelin vs Liam Pullen

Kyren Wilson vs Stan Moody

Barry Hawkins vs Matthew Stevens

Shaun Murphy vs Fan Zhengyi

Xiao Gudong vs Zhou Yuelong

John Higgins vs Ali Carter

Neil Robertson vs Pang Junxu

Not long until we find out who's playing who at the World Snooker Championship!

Jak Jones made five century breaks of 136, 100, 114, 114 and 132 on his way to victory over former world champion Luca Brecel in qualifying.

"I played quite well and this morning I felt really good, but this evening I felt shocking, but I managed to pull myself together and get over the line," said Jones.

"I don't think I could play much better. It was probably the best I have played all season.

"I enjoy playing at the Crucible, you either love it or hate it and you can crumble, but I enjoy the atmosphere and it's an unbelievable arena."

Snooker fans can watch along on the BBC Sport website, with the draw set to begin at 8.45am.

You can also listen on BBC Radio 5 Live with Rob Walker and Neil Robertson joining Rick Edwards and Rachael Burden.

The man looking to finally break the curse this year is Zhao Xintong.

The Chinese world champion, 29, is the best player in the world on form.

And seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry can see him retaining his crown. The Scot told the Metro: "When you walk down those stairs as defending champion, it's a massive thing. But I don't think it'll be as big a thing for him.

"I think he can. Whether I put him out as my absolute favourite, I don't know, but I think he can.

"I just think it's his sheer scoring power. I think it's on another level, to even the likes of Judd [Trump] and [Mark] Selby.

"He's winning almost one in every two frames in one visit. It's just frightening scoring and I just think it's not going to drop."

Just in case you didn't know...

No player has ever won their first world title at the Crucible and then come back to defend it the following year.

The 'curse' dates the way back to 1977, when the World Championship first arrived in Sheffield.

Even icons like Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins, Judd Trump and Mark Williams have fallen to the curse.

A record-breaking 11 Chinese potters have made it into this year's World Championship draw.

As well as reigning world champion Zhao Xintong, five of the world's top 16 - who are all seeded - come from China.

They have been joined by six compatriots who all came through qualifying.

The previous record was 10, set last year.

Qualifiers Stan Moody, Liam Pullen, Antoni Kowalski and He Guoqiang are all Crucible debutants.

Kowalski will be the first ever Polish player to play in the World Championship.

So who makes the list of 16 qualifiers to join the 16 seeds, you ask?

Say no more...

Hossein Vafaei

Zhou Yuelong

Matthew Stevens

Antoni Kowalski

Dave Gilbert

Stan Moody

Pang Junxu

Liam Pullen

Jak Jones

Ali Carter

He Guoqiang

Fan Zhengyi

Zhang Anda

Gary Wilson

Lei Peifan

Liam Highfield

With the World Snooker Championship having 16 seeded players and 16 unseeded, all of whom came through qualifying, we already know half of today's draw...

Zhao Xintong vs 

Ding Junhui vs

Xiao Guodong vs 

Shaun Murphy vs

John Higgins vs         

Ronnie O'Sullivan vs                                                        

Chris Wakelin vs                                                         

Neil Robertson vs  

------------------

Kyren Wilson vs 

Mark Allen vs                                                    

Barry Hawkins vs

Mark Williams vs

Mark Selby vs

Wu Yize vs                                                          

Si Jiahui vs 

Judd Trump vs

It was Judgement Day yesterday - and some big names crashed out of qualifying and failed to make it into today's draw.

Former world champion Luca Brecel and Jack Lisowski were high-profile casualties at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

Brecel, the 2023 champion from Belgium, was beaten 10-5 by 2024 finalist Jak Jones.

Lisowski, a World Championship quarter-finalist in 2022, also went out 10-5 to He Guoqiang as the Chinese player reached the last 32 of the tournament for the first time.

Ali Carter, who lost World Championship finals to Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2018 and 2012, rattled off five successive frames to beat Anthony McGill 10-7.

Full results

Jak Jones 10-5 Luca Brecel

Lei Peifan 10-5 Ryan Day

Xu Si 9-10 Gary Wilson

Zak Surety 3-10 Zhang Anda

Ali Carter 10-7 Anthony McGill

Liam Highfield 10-2 Oliver Lines

Fan Zhengyi 10-4 Ben Mertens

He Guoqiang 10-5 Jack Lisowski

Good morning and welcome to Express Sport's live coverage of the World Snooker Championship draw!

We expect the draw to get underway at approximately 8.45am and we'll bring you it in full right here.