World Snooker Championship: Antrim’s Mark Allen learns first round opponent

Keith Bailie

Thu 18 Apr 2024 at 14:43

Antrim’s Mark Allen will start his campaign for a first World Snooker Championship title against Robbie Williams at the Crucible on Tuesday.

Allen has reached two semi-finals, including losing out to Mark Selby in a dramatic last-four encounter last year, and three quarter-finals. At this year’s tournament – which starts in Sheffield on Saturday – he will be determined to go one better.

Ronnie O’Sullivan will face emerging young talent Jackson Page and reigning champion Luca Brecel opens up against former semi-finalist David Gilbert as the first-round draw for the World Snooker Championship was revealed.

Last year’s runner-up Mark Selby will take on Joe O’Connor in all-Leicester encounter, while third seed Judd Trump will play Hossein Vafaei – who made headlines last year by launching an extraordinary verbal assault on O’Sullivan ahead of their encounter, only to lose 13-2 – and another mouthwatering first-round clash sees Ding Junhui play Jack Lisowski.

Reflecting on the first round draw, world number three Allen said: “There’s a couple of massive games there. Luca [Brecel] versus [Dave] Gilbert to kick things off on Saturday.

“Ronnie [O’Sullivan] against Jackson [Page], who loves the big occasion. [Judd] Trump against [Hossein] Vafaei, Ding [Junhui] against [Jack] Lisowski is a ridiculous match for the first round as well.”

World Snooker Championship first-round draw

Luca Brecel vs David Gilbert

Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Jackson Page

Judd Trump vs Hossein Vafaei

Mark Allen vs Robbie Williams

Mark Selby vs Joe O’Connor

Mark Williams vs Si Jiahui

Ding Junhui vs Jack Lisowski

Shaun Murphy vs Lyu Haotian

Ali Carter vs Stephen Maguire

Gary Wilson vs Stuart Bingham

Zhang Anda vs Jak Jones