‘I’m not going to bother’ – Hendry won’t enter World Championship qualifying

Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry has confirmed that he gained’t be coming into qualifying for the upcoming World Snooker Championship.

Hendry, 55, is at the moment a part of the tour courtesy of a two-year invitational card that was given to him in the beginning of the 2022-23 season.

“I’ve not entered the world qualifying this 12 months.” Hendry mentioned.

“There’s a few causes. It begins the day after the Tour Championship finishes. I’ll have been working for TV all week, and clearly not had a lot likelihood to practise, which I haven’t actually achieved.

“I’m not going to trouble this 12 months. There’s loads of issues to do in between the Tour Championship and World Championship, so I assumed I’d give it a miss this 12 months.”

Hendry’s place in qualifying shall be taken from the 2023 Q Faculty Order of Benefit.

What remains to be unclear is whether or not Hendry’s invitational card goes to be renewed by the World Snooker Tour, and whether or not he even desires it to be having not performed that frequently over the previous two seasons.

With competitors inside the tour as fierce because it has ever been, regardless of Hendry’s absence there’ll nonetheless be some massive names concerned in qualifying.

Jack Lisowski, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Dominic Dale, Anthony McGill, Zhou Yuelong, Hossein Vafaei and Ryan Day will all be bidding to succeed in the finale on the Crucible.

The headline names in qualifying, nonetheless, will undoubtedly be former world champions Neil Robertson and Stuart Bingham.

As defending champion, Luca Brecel will go in as the highest seed seeking to retain the title that he gained final 12 months with the complete listing of top-16 seeds confirmed.

• Luca Brecel
• Ronnie O’Sullivan
• Judd Trump
• Mark Allen
• Mark Selby
• Shaun Murphy
• DIng Junhui
• Ali Carter
• Mark Williams
• Zhang Anda
• Gary Wilson
• Kyren Wilson
• John Higgins
• Tom Ford
• Barry Hawkins
• Robert Milkins