O’Sullivan, Davis, Hendry, White? Snooker stars name their childhood heroes
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Stephen Hendry will act as a snooker sparring partner for Ronnie O’Sullivan when the two seven-time world champions clash at Goffs in Ireland ahead of next week’s 50th World Championship.
O’Sullivan is set to join fellow Crucible icons Hendry, John Higgins and Mark Williams, a golden quartet with 21 world titles spanning 32 years, in competing for the John Virgo Trophy over the weekend.
The exhibition event at the celebrated venue in County Kildare has been organised in honour of the 1979 UK champion and iconic commentator Virgo, who died in February at the age of 79.
O’Sullivan takes on Hendry, who is no longer competing on the main circuit, at 19:00 UK time in the second semi-final on Saturday after Higgins and Williams meet earlier in the afternoon at 14:00.
The best-of-11 frame final will also be staged on Sunday evening at 19:00 with a third place play-off scheduled for 14:30.
All matches will be played under a shot clock format with frames lasting a maximum of 15 minutes.
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For all four men, it will be a trip down memory lane with Goffs the long-time host of the Irish Masters between 1978 and 2000 as six-time world champion Steve Davis claimed victory a record eight times.
Hendry won the title three times between 1992 and 1999, while two-time winner Higgins made the tournament’s only maximum against Jimmy White in a 6-4 quarter-final win in 2000.
He would defeat Hendry 9-4 in the title match in the last staging of the non-ranking event at Goffs.
O’Sullivan also ran out a 9-3 winner in the 1998 final at Goffs against Ken Doherty, but was stripped of the title after testing positive for cannabis.
The snooker GOAT would lift the title four times, twice as a ranking tournament, when it moved from Goffs to Dublin in 2001, including a 9-8 final win over Hendry 25 years ago.
‘Dejected’ White drops cue, misses brown twice to lose final frame decider
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Meanwhile, O’Sullivan is set to play his opening match in Sheffield this year on Tuesday, April 21 and Wednesday, April 22, live on TNT Sports and HBO Max, as he chases a standalone eighth world crown.
His second-round match, possibly against fellow ‘Class of ’92’ icon Higgins if both men win, will be staged on Saturday, April 25, Sunday, April 26 and Monday, April 27.
The draw for the first round of the World Championship takes place on Thursday, April 16 after the final round of qualifying concludes a day earlier at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
But former Welsh Open champion Robert Milkins no longer has interest in the sport’s main event as he prepares for a trip to Q School in Leicester next month to regain his tour card.
Milkins has been competing on the professional circuit since 1995, but a disappointing 10-3 defeat to Patrick Whelen in the second round of World Championship qualifying means he is certain to finish outside the top 64 safety net.
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Elsewhere on Thursday, veteran potter Mark Davis, who turned professional in 1991, also faces an uncertain future after losing 10-6 to Gao Yang, who edged Jimmy White 10-9 in the first round.
Milkins is 69th in the end-of-season rankings, with Davis dropping to 65th.
Q School will be hosted by Leicester’s Mattioli Arena which gets underway on Wednesday, May 20 and runs until Sunday, May 31 with eight tour cards up for grabs alongside another four via the Asia-Oceania event in Thailand.
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Qualifying for the 2026 World Championship takes place between April 6-15, and is live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.
