The showpiece event of the snooker calendar is almost upon us. The 2025 World Championships gets underway this Saturday.
The tournament is set to bring the world’s best snooker players together at The Crucible once more. Kyren Wilson heads into this year’s competition as the reigning champion so will be hoping to defend his title.
Judd Trump, John Higgins and Mark Selby will also be among those gunning for glory. But there is some debate over whether record winner Ronnie O’Sullivan will take to the table. The Rocket has barely played in 2025 and has yet to make a decision on his place at the World Championships.
Before that, the draw for the opening rounds of the competition needs to take place. The draw gets under way at 08:45am BST on Thursday and will take place at BBC Sport’s MediaCity UK headquarters in Salford.
And you can follow along every development with Mirror Sport. Stay tuned for live coverage of the draw, as well as reaction ahead of this weekend’s opening round:
Defending champion Kyren Wilson is unsurprisingly among the favourites for the World Championship.
He’s joined by fellow ex-champions Judd Trump and Mark Selby at the top of the list, while as a seven-time winner, Ronnie O’Sullivan will always have a chance, regardless of his recent form, if he decides to play.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has enjoyed himself at the Crucible over the years.
He has lifted the trophy in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2020, and 2022.
Remarkably, since making his Crucible debut in 1993 at the age of 17, The Rocket has never missed the competition.
We eagerly await news of his decision for this year…
One standout name among the seeds is Ronnie O’Sullivan. The Rocket has won a record seven times but there is doubt over whether he will play at this year’s edition.
Speaking recently, he said: “I haven’t made my mind up, I’ll probably make a decision on maybe the 17th or 18th of April.
“I’d love to be able to go there and play, I’d love to be able to have the confidence to be able to get my cue out and go and play snooker.
“I just need to give myself as much time as possible to see where I’m at with it, and see whether it’s something I’m going to be able to do.”
The top 16 seeds for the tournament have already been decided They include reigning champion Kyren Wilson, Jonh Higgins, Mark Selby and many more of the world’s standout players.
The full seeding:
1) Kyren Wilson, 2) Judd Trump, 3) John Higgins, 4) Mark Selby
5) Ronnie O’Sullivan, 6) Mark Williams, 7) Luca Brecel, 8) Mark Allen
9) Neil Robertson, 10) Ding Junhui, 11) Barry Hawkins, 12) Zhang Anda
13) Si Jiahui 14) Xiao Guodong, 15) Shaun Murphy, 16) Jak Jones
Good morning everyone and welcome along to Mirror Sport’s coverage of the draw for the 2025 Snooker World Championship.
We’ll be getting underway at 8:45 so make sure you stay tuned for all of the build-up, coverage and the reaction from Media City UK.
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