Shaun Murphy has criticised fellow former world champions Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump for missing the launch of the 2026 World Championship in Sheffield.

This year’s players gathered in Tudor Square outside the Crucible Theatre on Friday for a green-carpet ceremony celebrating the relationship between snooker and Sheffield, before media commitments with press and broadcasters inside the venue.

But O’Sullivan and Trump did not appear and unless they can provide a valid reason for their absence, such as a medical issue, they face a sanction from the World Snooker Tour.

Even by Ronnie O’Sullivan’s absurd standards, this has been an astonishing season, achieving unfathomable feats including one break which left casual observers wondering how it is possible to score 153, six more than the “maximum” 147.

Even at the age of 50, O’Sullivan is still redefining what is possible on a twelve-by-six table.

O’Sullivan was winning major titles before the current world champion, Zhao Xintong, was born, yet he is still producing moments of unfettered genius.

He arrives at the Crucible chasing a historic eighth world title, which would stand him alone in rarified air, one clear of Stephen Hendry. Significantly, despite his long love-hate relationship with snooker, O’Sullivan has shown he is still motivated to break new ground.

Read Lawrence Ostlere’s full analysis of ‘The Rocket’s’ latest pursuit of history:

Ronnie O’Sullivan concludes his best-of-19, first-round encounter against Chinese debutant He Guoqiang this afternoon.

The second session, which begins with O’Sullivan leading 7-2, starts at 2.30pm.

If O’Sullivan gets through, then his second-round contest will be the best of 25 frames, across three sessions against John Higgins. The first session is on Saturday 25 April at 7pm, the second session is on Sunday 26 April at 7pm and the final, concluding session will be the following afternoon – Monday 27 April at 1pm.

Every session of every match at the 2026 World Snooker Championship will be live on the BBC, with BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, the BBC red button, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website all utilised for coverage across the 17 days.

The tournament is also broadcast on TNT Sports in the UK, with every session shown across their channels and subscribers can also use streaming service HBO Max to watch TNT Sports.

Ronnie O’Sullivan started with a rare Crucible mis-step but still emerged with a 7-2 lead after the opening session of his first-round match against China’s He Guoqiang at the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.

Heading out for his 34th-consecutive appearance in the event, the 50-year-old accidentally headed towards the wrong table and had to be steered in the right direction by a subtle nudge from referee Rob Spencer.

However, O’Sullivan did not need to be at his best against the plainly-nervous debutant, who dumped out Jack Lisowski in the last round of qualifying, as he left himself needing just three frames for victory at the Crucible.

Good afternoon and welcome to The Independent’s coverage of the final session of Ronnie O’Sullivan vs He Guoqiang in the first round of the 2026 World Snooker Championship.

O’Sullivan leads 7-2 overnight and needs just three frames to reach the second round