World Championship snooker 2024: Neil Robertson and Jack Lisowski among the star names as draw made for qualifying

Published 30/03/2024 at 20:23 GMT

Anticipation is growing ahead of the World Championship, as qualification for snooker's biggest prize begins on April 8. Neil Robertson and Jack Lisowski enter qualification in the third of four qualification rounds, aiming to secure their respective places at the main tournament, beginning on April 20 and running until May 6. Jimmy White will start in the first qualifying round.

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Neil Robertson and Jack Lisowski are among the stand-out names competing in the World Championship qualifying rounds, after the draw was made.

Robertson and Lisowski will be joined by the likes of Stuart Bingham, Stephen Maguire, Si Jiahui, Anthony McGill, Ryan Day and Hossein Vafaei for the qualifying rounds, which run between April 8 and April 17.

The World Championship begins on April 20 and culminates on May 6, with all players seeded outside of the top 16 needing to win a minimum of two matches in order to make it to the main stage.

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Meanwhile, 16 invited amateur players will be among those beginning qualification in the first of four qualifiers.

Among those needing to win four matches to reach the main tournament include six-time world finalist Jimmy White, who faces Martin Gould in the opening round.

Sholdd White or Gould advance to the third round, they would take on Lisowski.

Robertson meanwhile will face one of Zak Surety, Yang Gao or Ishpreet Singh Chada.

Another intriguing first-round qualifier will see current women's world champion Bai Yulu come up against Jenson Kendrick.

Rebecca Kenna, currently in action at the World Mixed Doubles, faces Alfie Burden, while Reanne Evans will take on Oliver Brown in the first round.

Qualification then reaches its conclusion on April 16th and 17th, with the latter known as Judgement Day and the winners sealing their places at the Crucible.

What is the World Championship qualification seeding structure?

The four rounds of qualifying are constructed as follows:

Round one: Players ranked 81-112 against those seeded 113-144
Round two: The 32 winners from round one face players ranked 49-80
Round three: The 32 winners from round two face players ranked 17-48.
Round four: The 32 winners from round three play each other, with the 16 winners going through to the Crucible

How many frames in qualifying?

All of the matches are best-of-19 frames.

What are the session times?

The sessions take place at 10am, 2.30pm and 7pm for matches from the first three rounds, while the matches on Judgement Day take place at 11am and 5pm.