The first round of the World Snooker Championship will be very tough for the competition. The players are pitted against formidable opponents and the Championship is set to be very exciting. The event is going to start on April 17th at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

John Higgins is set to face Barry Hawkins in the opening match of the tournament. Liang Wenbo will face Ronnie O’Sullivan while Zhang Anda will face Stephen Hendry. Another good match in the first round will be when Ding Junhui will face Stuart Pettman.

Steve Davis commented on how exciting the matches involving the Chinese players will be. He stated: "From the point of view of excitement it's about the Chinese players. We don't know what Liang is capable of but I don't suppose he's too happy, although I don't imagine Ronnie will be absolutely delighted to play a player who is on the up. We also have an unknown quantity in 18-year-old Zhang who has drawn the most established player at the Crucible in Stephen Hendry. That’s a fascinating match and Hendry will want to get through to prove he's still got a future. But he's got a player he's probably never seen before and he certainly wouldn't know him if he walked past him in the street. We don't know what he's capable of but Stephen has got to go out and justify his existence as a snooker player."









- 2010-03-12