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Tough draw for Irish in Crucible qualifying

Josh Boileau, current European Under-21 champion, will take on Matthew Stevens
Josh Boileau, current European Under-21 champion, will take on Matthew Stevens

Rising Irish star Josh Boileau has been handed a difficult draw in the World Snooker Championships qualifying after being paired with Matthew Stevens.

Boileau won the European Under-21 Snooker Championship this year and will face the former runner-up in the first round.

The 1997 champion Ken Doherty will take on Andy Hicks, with Gerard Greene set to take on fan favourite Jimmy White. Fergal O’Brien will meet fellow veteran Steve Davis.

Irish amateur Greg Casey has also been handed a daunting prospect after being first out in the draw to meet Ding Junhui.

Brendan O’Dononghue takes his place in the draw after winning the Amateur Championship in Ireland last year – he will meet David Grace.

Kilkenny’s David Morris comes up against Chris Melling.

The players must come through three rounds of qualifying to reach the Crucible. The matches begin on Wednesday. 

1. Ding Junhui v Greg Casey (*a)

2. Ross Muir v Sean O’Sullivan

3. Andrew Higginson v Nigel Bond

4. Gary Wilson v Leo Fernandez (a)

5. Jamie Jones v Hamza Akbar

6. Ian Burns v Duane Jones

7. Gerard Greene v Jimmy White

8. Peter Ebdon v James Wattana

9. Ben Woollaston v Chris Wakelin

10. Anthony Hamilton v Sydney Wilson

11. Robbie Williams v Gareth Allen

12. Mark Joyce v Zak Surety

13. Mike Dunn v James Cahill

14. Li Hang v Lyu Chenwei

15. Michael Georgiou v Noppon Saengkham

16. Graeme Dott v Brandon Sargeant (a)

17. Robert Milkins v Ka Wai Cheung (a)

18. Joel Walker v Scott Donaldson

19. Kurt Maflin v Sanderson Lam

20. Rod Lawler v Zhao Xintong (a)

21. Mark King v Fraser Patrick

22. David Grace v Brendan O’Donoghue (a)

23. Peter Lines v Ng On Yee (af)

24. Michael Holt v Michael Wild

25. Alan McManus v Michael Wasley

26. David Morris v Chris Melling

27. Stuart Carrington v Hammad Miah (a)

28. Jimmy Robertson v Tyler Rees (a)

29. Tian Pengfei v Hossein Vafaei Ayouri

30. Ken Doherty v Andy Hicks (a)

31. Alfie Burden v Tony Drago

32. Ryan Day v Daniel Wells

33. Kyren Wilson v Jason Weston

34. Martin O’Donnell v Kuldesh Johal (a)

35. Joe Swail v Zhang Yong

36. Matthew Stevens v Josh Boileau (a)

37. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v Akani Songsermsawad

38. Yu Delu v Paul S Davison

39. Craig Steadman v Michael Leslie

40. Anthony McGill v Hatem Yassin

41. Luca Brecel v Steven Hallworth

42. Liam Highfield v Luke Simmonds (a)

43. Sam Baird v Thor Chuan Leong

44. Tom Ford v Darryl Hill

45. Jack Lisowski v Alex Taubman (a)

46. Rory McLeod v Lukas Kleckers (a)

47. Lee Walker v Conor McCormack (a)

48. David Gilbert v Rhys Clark

49. Matthew Selt v Igor Figueiredo

50. Mitchell Mann v Kishan Hirani (a)

51. Robin Hull v Barry Pinches

52. Dechawat Poomjaeng v Eden Sharav

53. Fergal O’Brien v Steve Davis

54. Zhou Yuelong v Dylan Craig (a)

55. Zhang Anda v Bratislav Krustev (a)

56. Mark Davis v Adam Duffy (a)

57. Allister Carter v Mateusz Baranowski (a)

58. Cao Yupeng v Rodion Judin (a)

59. Oliver Lines v Lu Ning

60. Dominic Dale v Ian Glover

61. Xiao Guodong v Allan Taylor

62. Jamie Burnett v Jamie Rhys Clarke (a)

63. Jamie Cope v Ashley Hugill (a)

64. Liang Wenbo v Joe O’Connor (a)

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