This year’s World Snooker Championship has officially begun in the city after government efforts to keep it in Sheffield.
A green carpet officially kicked off the championship on Friday, April 17, hosting snooker stars and their fans, running across Tudor Square from the Crucible, to the Winter Gardens.
The Crucible Theatres has hosted the championship since 1977, and will now be hosting it until 2045 after UK and local government’s plans to invest £35m in its refurbishment. Among their goals is an expansion of the theatre’s capacity by 50%
Safiya Saeed, the Lord Mayor of Sheffield, regarding receiving the news, said: It was absolutely brilliant. It’s bringing the city together in one space, a unified message of honouring snooker itself.”
“When you think of snooker you think of Sheffield and the Crucible straight away,” said Laura Davies, a snooker fan who attended the green carpet. Her and her family have been coming down to the Crucible to watch the championship for the last 20 years.
Saturday April 18 saw the current reigning champion Zhao Xintong defeat Liam Highfield with a score of 10:7. Zhao is the first Chinese player to win the championship and will be playing against Ding Junhui next, after his win on Sunday against David Gilbert.
But according to the Crucible curse, no player who wins their first championship at the Crucible is able to win again the following year, with many coming close but ultimately failing in the past.
Yet, Rob Walker, the sports announcer following the championship, says he’s “got a chance of breaking the curse”.
Ken Doherty, a past snooker player, fell victim to the curse in his final against John Higgins in the 1997 championship. He said: “He’s got great form coming into this championship, he’s just won the tour and he’s won a grand prix. No other player has done that in the history of the game.
“But it remains to be seen. There are so many great players in the tournament that can stop him.”
Saturday also saw wins from Mark Allen against Zhang Anda, Xiao Guodong against Zhou Yuelong, Mark Williams against Antoni Kowalski, and Barry Hawkins against Matthew Stevens.
Matches on Monday will see Ding Junhui playing against David Gilbert, as well as Kyren Wilson against Stan Moody.
