Snooker: Mark Selby to open World Championship title defence against Norway's Kurt Maflin
Posted: April 16, 2015
|Mark Selby will begin the defence of his World Championship title against Kurt Maflin.
The 'Jester from Leicester', who beat Ronnie O'Sullivan in last year's final to clinch his first world title, takes on the Norwegian No.1 in the opening match at the Crucible on Saturday (10am).
Selby goes into the weekend in fine form after his victory at the China Open, although no one has ever gone on to win the world title the year after lifting it for the first time.
Maflin, the world No.38, is making his Crucible debut after a qualifying campaign that included a 10-1 trouncing of six-time world champion Steve Davis.
He beat David Grace in the first round of qualifying, brushing aside Davis in the second, before needed a final-frame decider to get the better of Fergal O'Brien in the final qualifier.
Leicester's Tom Ford lost to Matthew Selt in the final round of qualifying while Ben Woollaston and Joe O'Connor also failed to make it to this year's Crucible.
Full draw:
Shaun Murphy v Robin Hull
Mark Allen v Ryan Day
Joe Perry v Zhang Anda
Stephen Maguire v Anthony McGill
Judd Trump v Stuart Carrington
Ricky Walden v Graeme Dott
Stuart Bingham v Robbie Williams
Mark Selby v Kurt Maflin
Ding Junhui v Mark Davis
Mark Williams v Matthew Stevens
Barry Hawkins v Matthew Selt
Ali Carter v Alan McManus
John Higgins v Robert Milkins
Neil Robertson v Jamie Jones
Marco Fu v Jimmy Robertson
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Craig Steadman
Comments