World Championship 2011 - Draw Revealed

After the conclusion of the Welsh Open we now know which 16 players will definitely be featuring in the biggest and final event of the calendar; the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield!

UPDATE *Full draw is now known, click here* UPDATE

Here is the full draw for the first round of the World Championship;

Q1

Neil Robertson (1)
Qualifier
Marco Fu (16)
Qualifier

Graeme Dott (9)
Qualifier
Ali Carter (8)
Qualifier

Q2

Ding Junhui (5)
Qualifier
Peter Ebdon (12)
Qualifier

Stephen Hendry (13)
Qualifier
Mark Selby (4)
Qualifier

Q3

Mark Williams (3)
Qualifier
Jamie Cope (14)
Qualifier

Mark Allen (11)
Qualifier
Stephen Maguire (6)
Qualifier

Q4

Shaun Murphy (7)
Qualifier
Ronnie O’Sullivan (10)
Qualifier

Ricky Walden (15)
Qualifier
John Higgins (2)
Qualifier

Thanks to the rankings being updated every three months, the players who are doing well have been rewarded with a better draw for this event. Also players like Ricky Walden and Peter Ebdon who weren't in the top 16 at the start of the season now don't have to qualify to reach the Crucible.

As you can probably see, quarter four is this years "quarter of death" as it has Higgins, O'Sullivan and Murphy all in it so whoever makes it through that group could be favourite for the the title, but they would have to possibly pass Mark Williams in the semi-final to do it. On paper you would think defending champion Neil Robertson has a good draw in first quarter, but Ali Carter always seems to come good at the world championship in recent seasons and Graeme Dott is no slouch over the long format also.

The premier event on the snooker tour starts on Sunday the 16th of April and lasts all the way through to May the 2nd (with a royal wedding in the middle!). And as usual will be broadcast on BBC2 and EuroSport, with the winner taking home £250,000, 10,000 ranking points and most importantly; the title of Snooker World Champion 2011.