Welcome home! World Snooker Championships kick off in style at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre
Fans from around the world travelled to meet their snooker heroes at a Green Carpet event in Sheffield
Huge crowds gathered outside the iconic Crucible Theatre as Sheffield rolled out the Green Carpet to mark the start of the biggest annual event in the Steel City’s sporting calendar.
Famous names such as defending champion Zhao Xintong, Mark Williams, Kyren Wilson and Mark Selby were among those that received the biggest cheers from locals and tourists when introduced, who’d gathered to to meet their heroes.
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It was an event which epitomised why the decision to keep the World Championship at the Crucible for another 20 years was so important to the city as fans from around the congregated in the Steel City, including those from Belgium and China among others.
The historic theatre will increase size by 50 per cent - an extra 500 seats - taking the overall capacity to 1,500, with work scheduled to begin in summer 2028.
The action gets underway when defending champion Xintong aims to take his first step towards breaking the Crucible curse against Liam Highfield this Saturday (18 April). Another interesting plot line to keep an eye on will be Ronnie O'Sullivan’s journey as he begins his quest for a record-breaking eighth world title by facing off against He Guoqiang, who is making his Crucible debut.
Meanwhile, Mark Williams, who mentioned that he’d run-down the M4 from London to Cardiff naked if it meant securing another title, is expected to get plenty of attention as he starts his road to glory against Antoni Kowalski, who becomes Poland’s first ever player to appear this weekend.
The feeling of anticipation was palpable as fans expressed their excitement for the first World Championship since the extension news was announced.
“I’m happy with it staying, in Sheffield,” said James King “And I don’t mind that it’s going away for a while later down the line because that just makes it even more exciting for when it comes back and we get a bigger and better Crucible.”
Danny Brown, who also attended the event added: “It’s good for the city money-wise. It’s the natural home of snooker and it always will be in my eyes. I’m so glad it’s staying here.”
Adam Newbould added: “There’s no where else it could be really. I know there was talk of it going to China and Saudi, but there’s no where else it should be for me. It really is the home of snooker.”