World Seniors Championship Draw Made in Sheffield

The ROKiT World Seniors Championship draw was held in Sheffield on Tuesday with the event set to be staged next month at the Crucible Theatre.

A total of 20 players from the World Seniors Tour will battle it out for silverware at the famous venue from August 15th to 18th.

The city of Sheffield is widely recognised as the spiritual home of snooker, with the Crucible Theatre hosting each World Championship on the Main Tour since 1977.

In May, Judd Trump produced a performance for the ages when he overcame John Higgins with a scintillating display of power scoring to claim a maiden world crown.

Just a few months later and the action returns to the Crucible, with a strong World Seniors Championship draw set to pull in more big crowds.

Defending champion Aaron Canavan is the top seed and the Jersey player, who despite being an outsider enjoyed success in 2018, first takes on Au Chi-wai in the last 16.

Favourite Jimmy White, who has landed the most seniors trophies with four titles to his name, will begin his quest this year against Welshman Rhydian Richards.

The “Whirlwind”, who won the World Seniors Championship way back in 2010, is on the opposite side of the draw to old nemesis Stephen Hendry – meaning there is an outside opportunity of a dream final showdown between the pair of legends.

Hendry, though, will have to improve on his previous performances in World Seniors Tour events.

The Scot is yet to reach a title deciding match and is set for a tough opener against either Tony Drago and Dene O’Kane, who are among the eight players featuring in the preliminary round.

Recent Seniors Masters champion Joe Johnson awaits the winner of the James Wattana and Wael Talat tie, while the likes of John Parrott, Cliff Thorburn, and Dennis Taylor are seeded through to the second round as well.

The pick of the first round encounters is arguably Willie Thorne’s clash against Darren Morgan.

The latter, who has dominated internationally at amateur seniors level during the last decade or so, emerged victorious in 2011 and again reached the final five years later.

Former world number two Tony Knowles faces the only Chinese player in the field, Chen Gang.

Elsewhere, Irishman Leo Fernandez’ reward for coming through one of the qualifying events is a date with Dutchman Joris Maas.

There will be plenty at stake and, even though there’s generally a lighter approach with these tournaments, things will inevitably get serious the closer it gets to the business end.

The World Seniors Tour is continuously expanding and bringing its signature competition to snooker’s theatre of dreams underlines how far it has come in a short space of time.

Indeed, there’s sure to be plenty of excitement and drama in just over a month’s time.

Click here to view the World Seniors Championship Draw (Times: CET)