A dramatic eight days of qualifying came to an end on Tuesday night and the field for the 2020 World Snooker Championship has been set.
There was incredible tension throughout at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield as 16 men came through the field to book their spot at the Crucible.
The unique situation, due to the global pandemic, saw all matches played behind closed doors and the first three rounds of matches played over a best of 11, before moving to best of 19 format for the final round.
Big names fell, with the likes of Joe Perry, Ali Carter and Graeme Dott all failing to make the Crucible, three names which looked as certain as any to do the job.
In terms of records, we saw the youngest player ever to compete in the World Championship as 14-year-old Ukrainian prodigy Iulian Boiko took part, losing 6-3 in the first round to Thor Chuan Leong of Malaysia.
We also had the youngest winner of a match at the World Championship, as Belgium’s Ben Mertens stunned James Cahill 6-2 in the first round at just 15-years-old.
Cahill made it to the Crucible last year and famously beat Ronnie O’Sullivan in the last 32, so it was a serious scalp for the Belgian teen.
Thanks to the fantastic form of Alexander Ursenbacher, we will also see the first Swiss player at the Crucible, taking the total number of nationalities represented at the iconic venue to 19.
The 24-year-old was impressive as he beat Chen Feilong, Gary Wilson and Andrew Higginson to qualify.
Ursenbacher will join Ashley Carty, Elliott Slessor, Jordan Brown and Jamie Clarke as debutants at the Crucible.
There is also plenty of experience on show from the qualifiers, with the likes of Alan McManus making his 21st appearance at the Crucible, 29 years after his first, and Anthony Hamilton returning for the first time since 2008.
2020 World Snooker Championship qualifiers
- Ashley Carty
- Alexander Ursenbacher
- Anthony Hamilton
- Kurt Maflin
- Elliott Slessor
- Liang Wenbo
- Alan McManus
- Noppon Saengkham
- Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
- Matthew Stevens
- Jamie Clarke
- Tom Ford
- Martin Gould
- Jordan Brown
- Mark King
- Anthony McGill
The draw for the first round proper is made at 11am on Wednesday 29 July when the 16 qualifiers will discover which of the top 16 in the world they will face.
Watch it live on the Eurosport website of the WST or Betfred Facebook pages.
MORE: ‘Absolutely f***ing ridiculous’: Dave Gilbert and Fergal O’Brien relive snooker’s longest frame
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