The World Snooker Championship begins on Saturday with all eyes on whether world number one Ronnie O'Sullivan can win a seventh title.
The Englishman is among the favourites for the biggest tournament on the calendar in the snooker world and needs one more triumph to match Stephen Hendry's modern-day record of seven.
For the 46th consecutive year, the event will be held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, with 32 players competing.
It starts on April 16 and runs through until the evening of May 2, when the champion is crowned.
Are you ready?#ilovesnooker @Betfred pic.twitter.com/mVqGUU9XTD
— World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) April 4, 2022
When is the 2022 World Snooker Championship draw?
The draw will take place on Thursday at 11 a.m. BST. There are 16 match-ups to be drawn in total. It is the only draw that will happen at the tournament with the rest of action set out by brackets that have already been decided.
How does the 2022 World Snooker Championship draw work?
There are eight places in the draw to be confirmed as qualifying is still taking place. The final day of the preliminaries, known as 'Judgment Day', is on Wednesday and the winners of the 16 ties being played go straight into the main event.
The top 16 in the world rankings are already in the draw and their places have been laid out in the bracket.
Defending champion Mark Selby is placed at the top of the draw as No 1 seed, while O'Sullivan is seeded second and is on the other side of the draw as the top-ranked player on that side. Selby and O'Sullivan cannot meet before the final.
Thursday's draw is essentially for the 16 qualifiers to find out who they will be paired with in the first round.
Who are the 16 seeds at the 2022 World Snooker Championship?
| Seeding | Player | Best past Championship result |
| 1 | Mark Selby (England) | 4x champion (2014, 2016, 2017 & 2021) |
| 2 | Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) | 6x champion (2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013 & 2020) |
| 3 | Neil Robertson (Australia) | 1x champion (2010) |
| 4 | Judd Trump (England) | 1x champion (2019) |
| 5 | Kyren Wilson (England) | Finalist (2020) |
| 6 | John Higgins (Scotland) | 4 x champion (1998, 2007, 2009 & 2011) |
| 7 | Zhao Xintong (China) | 1st round (2019) |
| 8 | Mark Williams (Wales) | 3x champion (2000, 2003 & 2018) |
| 9 | Barry Hawkins (England) | Finalist (2013) |
| 10 | Shaun Murphy (England) | 1x champion (2005) |
| 11 | Luca Brecel (Belgium) | 1st round (2019) |
| 12 | Stuart Bingham (England) | 1x champion (2015) |
| 13 | Anthony McGill (Scotland) | Semi-finalist (2020) |
| 14 | Jack Lisowski (England) | 2nd round (2018 & 2021) |
| 15 | Mark Allen (Northern Ireland) | Semi-finalist (2009) |
| 16 | Yao Bingtao (China) | 2nd round (2020 & 2021) |
Can I watch the 2022 World Snooker Championship draw on TV or online?
The draw will not be on terrestrial TV, but you can watch it on Betfred TV and also on WST's social media.
Full list of players in the 2022 World Snooker Championship draw
| Seeding | Player |
| 1 | Mark Selby |
| 2 | Ronnie O'Sullivan |
| 3 | Neil Robertson |
| 4 | Judd Trump |
| 5 | Kyren Wilson |
| 6 | John Higgins |
| 7 | Zhao Xintong |
| 8 | Mark Williams |
| 9 | Barry Hawkins |
| 10 | Shaun Murphy |
| 11 | Luca Brecel |
| 12 | Stuart Bingham |
| 13 | Anthony McGill |
| 14 | Jack Lisowski |
| 15 | Mark Allen |
| 16 | Yao Bingtao |
| Q | Scott Donaldson |
| Q | Lyu Haotian |
| Q | Stephen Maguire |
| Q | Michael White |
| Q | Thepchaiya Un-Nooh |
| Q | Jamie Jones |
| Q | Ding Junhui |
| Q | Ashley Hugill |
| Q | David Gilbert |
| Q | Chris Wakelin |
| Q | Noppon Saengkham |
| Q | Liam Highfield |
| Q | Matthew Stevens |
| Q | Jackson Page |
| Q | Jamie Clarke |
| Q | Hossein Vafaei |