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Mark Selby to face Jamie Jones in World Championship opener

Selby to face Jones in World Championship opener
© Reuters
Defending champion Mark Selby will meet Jamie Jones in the first round of the World Championship, which gets underway on Saturday.

Mark Selby has been handed a first-round encounter against Jamie Jones at the World Championship, which gets underway on Saturday.

The defending champion has endured a disappointing 2021-22 campaign, but the 38-year-old will be bidding to become a five-time winner at the Crucible.

Welshman Jones, who is one of 16 players to come through qualifying for the tournament, is a former quarter-finalist and reached the second round last year.

Elsewhere, second seed Ronnie O'Sullivan was drawn alongside David Gilbert, while in-form Neil Robertson will begin his campaign versus Ashley Hugill.

One of the ties of the round sees fourth seed Judd Trump square off against Hossein Vafaei, the 2022 Snooker Shoot Out champion who will become the first Iranian player to feature in the last 32 of this competition.

Draw in full

Mark Selby vs. Jamie Jones
Yan Bingtao vs. Chris Wakelin
Barry Hawkins vs. Jackson Page
Mark Williams vs. Michael White
Kyren Wilson vs. Ding Junhui
Stuart Bingham vs. Lyu Haotain
Anthony McGill vs. Liam Highfield
Judd Trump vs. Hossein Vafaei
Neil Robertson vs. Ashley Hugill
Jack Lisowski vs. Matthew Stevens
Luca Brecel vs. Noppon Saengkham
John Higgins vs. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Zhao Xintong vs. Jamie Clarke
Shaun Murphy vs. Stephen Maguire
Mark Allen vs. Scott Donaldson
Ronnie O'Sullivan vs. David Gilbert

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Mark Selby poses with the trophy after beating Ding Junhui in the final of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible on May 2, 2016
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