Stuart Bingham
Stuart Bingham begins the defence of his World Snooker Championship title against Ali Carter at the Crucible Getty

Defending champion Stuart "Ball Run" Bingham will face Ali Carter in the first round of the Betfred World Snooker Championship this weekend. The 39-year-old had never been beyond the quarter-finals at the Crucible before last year, but defied his status as an outsider to eliminate Robbie Williams, Graeme Dott, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump en route to a thrilling 18-15 victory over Shaun Murphy.

O'Sullivan is a five-time champion in Sheffield and 2015 was the first time that he has failed to reach the final in four years. The Rocket begins his latest campaign against former International Championship runner-up David Gilbert, while Murphy plays Anthony McGill.

World number one Mark Selby, who won his first world title in 2014 before being knocked out by in the second round by McGill 12 months later, is up against Robert Milkins. Elsewhere, Neil Robertson meets qualifier Michael Holt and China Open winner Trump has been drawn alongside Liang Wenbo. There is an all-Scottish affair between Stephen Maguire and Alan McManus, while John Higgins takes on Ryan Day and debutant Mitchell Mann challenges Mark Allen.

Dott battles Mark Williams and Shanghai Masters champion Kyren Wilson faces Joe Perry. The competition begins on Saturday 16 April, with the final set to be contested during the first weekend of May. The first round is best of 19 frames and that increases to 25 for the second round and quarter-finals. The semi-finals is best of 33 and it is 35 for the tournament showpiece.

World Championship draw in full:

Mark Allen v Mitchell Mann, Stephen Maguire v Alan McManus, Mark Williams v Graeme Dott, Barry Hawkins v Zhang Anda, Ronnie O'Sullivan v Dave Gilbert, Mark Selby v Robert Milkins, Martin Gould v Ding Junhui, Ricky Walden v Robbie Williams, Shaun Murphy v Anthony McGill, John Higgins v Ryan Day, Stuart Bingham v Ali Carter, Neil Robertson v Michael Holt, Joe Perry v Kyren Wilson, Marco Fu v Peter Ebdon, Michael White v Sam Baird, Judd Trump v Liang Wenbo

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