MARK Allen will take on Jackson Page of Wales when he begins his bid for a second UK title in York on Sunday.
The Antrim man lifted the title two years ago when he defeated Ding Junhui of China in the final and could do with a repeat, or at least a strong showing to kick-start what has been a frustrating season to date.
He did reach a semi-final (British Open) and quarter-final (English Open) in September but he’s down at number 23 on the one-year list and has fallen to number three on the overall rankings from his start-of-season number one.
Page, meanwhile, will be coming into the clash full of confidence after wins over Jamie Clarke (6-4) and Hossein Vafaei (6-2) in qualifying this week.
Former winner Zhao Xintong will face Shaun Murphy in the first round after coming through qualifying.
Zhao was one of 10 Chinese players banned from the sport last year for his part in a match-fixing scandal, although he did not directly throw a match himself.
The 27-year-old admitted he was a party to another player fixing two matches in March 2022 and had also bet on snooker fixtures between September 2019 and December 2022.
He was given a 30-month ban, reduced to 20 months due to his early admission of guilt, and returned to action last month by winning back-to-back Q Tour events, making a 147 break in each.
Victory in the first of those events secured Zhao a place in qualifying for the UK Championship, an event he won in 2021, and on Thursday he defeated Ricky Walden 6-2 in the final round.
“The problem with Zhao Xintong is he’s really b****y good,” Murphy told the PA news agency on Tuesday, two days before the draw was made.
“It might be fair to say he’s done nothing in these 18 months but practice. He looks very, very sharp to me.
“He was caught, he took his punishment on the chin and since then has done everything right. There’s an element of rehabilitation, he’s done the crime and served his time and he’s back.”
Defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan will face Barry Hawkins in a repeat of the 2013 World Championship final, with current world champion Kyren Wilson up against Stephen Maguire.
Jack Lisowski, who ended the qualifying run of women’s world champion Bai Yulu, has been drawn to face Mark Selby.
Allen will be the only Irish representative in York after Jordan Brown, Aaron Hill and Robbie McGuigan failed to come through qualifying.
Rookie McGuigan did win his first match since August when he beat Habib Sabah of Bahrain 6-3, but he was beaten 6-1 by He Guoqiang of China at the next hurdle. Brown fell at the same stage, losing 6-2 to Florian Nuessle of Austria.
Hill did progress to round three of the qualifiers after beating Ka Wai Cheung 6-5 but then lost 6-2 to Matthew Selt.
victorianplumbing.co.uk UK Snooker Championship
Round one
Ronnie O’Sullivan (Eng) v Barry Hawkins (Eng)
Xiao Guodong (Chi) v David Gilbert (Eng)
Shaun Murphy (Eng) v Zhai Xintong (Chi)
Ding Junhui (Chi) v Robert Milkins (Eng)
Mark Selby (Eng) v Jack Lisowski (Eng)
Ali Carter (Eng) v Ryan Day (Wal)
Si Jiahui (Chi) v Wu Yize (Chi)
Mark Allen (NI) v Jackson Page (Wal)
Judd Trump (Eng) v Neil Robertson (Aus)
John Higgins (Sco) v He Guoqiang (Chi)
Zhang Anda (Chi) v Lei Peifan (Chi)
Mark WIlliams (Wal) v Stuart Bingham (Eng)
Luca Brecel (Bel) v Jak Jones (Wal)
Gary Wilson (Eng) v Michael Holt (Eng) **
Chris Wakelin (Eng) v Matthew Selt (Eng)
Kyren Wilson (Eng) v Stephen Maguire (Sco)
