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Henry and White to rekindle old rivalry in World Snooker qualifiers


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Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White are to come face-to-face once again, this time in the qualifiers for the World Snooker Championships. 

They've been drawn together in the first round of the qualifiers which get underway on April 5 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

Sixteen places in the main draw at the Crucible are up for grabs.

Hendry and White met on four separate occasions in the World Championship final during the nineties, with the Scot winning all four encounters.

The closest the 'Whirlwind' came to toppling the Scot was an 18-17 defeat in 1994, coincidentally his last appearance in the Crucible decider.

While White has kept plugging away in the intervening years, Hendry has only recently returned to the sport after a nine-year absence.

The seven-time world champion hasn't had the dream comeback many would have craved, losing his first match back to Matthew Selt at the Gibraltar Open.

Whoever wins the Hendry-White contest will need to get pass two Chinese players if they're to reach a deciding match next month. Xu Si and Zhou Yuelong both wait down the line in their section of the draw.

The man who ended Hendry's run of world titles - Ken Doherty - begins his quest for the Crucible against Lee Walker. Another old stager in Nigel Bond awaits the winner of that one.

Elsewhere, Limerick's Leo Fernandez plays Fraser Patrick, with the winner to face Joe O'Connor.

There's an all-Irish affair in the offing with Fergal O'Brien taking on 20-year old Fergal Quinn.

Recent Welsh Open winner Jordan Brown has a bye to round 3 of the qualifiers, meaning he has to win two matches to reach the Crucible.

Fellow Ulsterman Gerard Greene will play either James Cahill or Sean Maddocks in round 2.

All qualifying matches are best of 11 frames, up until the final round on April 13 and 14 which is best of 19.

Action at the Crucible gets underway on April 17.

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Fergal O'Brien Gerard Greene Jimmy White Jordan Brown Ken Doherty Leo Fernandez Snooker Stephen Hendry World Snooker World Snooker Championships

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