On April 14, the first round of the 2022 World Snooker Championship Final 32 draw ceremony was held, and the top 16 seeds in the world ranking and the 16 players who advanced through the qualifiers were officially placed, and the World Championship main tournament was about to start. China's brother Ding Junhui drew the next draw and once again met No. 5 seed Karen Wilson; Zhao Xintong played Clark, Yan Bingtao played Against Wecklin, and Lu Haotian challenged Bingham. The strongest matchup in the first round was Murphy vs. Maguire.
As the most important ranking tournament at the end of the season, the World Championships is one of the three grand slam competitions, with a total prize money of up to 500,000 pounds, the highest threshold of entry of all ranking competitions, and only 32 players have the opportunity to compete in the main event, appearing at the Crucible Theatre in San Diego. Among the 16 seeded players this year, Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao, two new generation celebrities of the Chinese Legion, played hand in hand, of which Zhao Xintong, the champion of the Xinkeying Championship and the champion of the German Masters, was the No. 7 seed, while Yan Bingtao was the No. 16 seed, and the two were in the upper and lower half of the district.
In the recently concluded qualifiers, as many as 25 members of the Chinese legion competed, including Ding Junhui, Fu Jiajun and other famous players, but after four rounds of qualifying, only Ding Junhui and Lu Haotian were left to break through smoothly. The other three players who entered the decisive round, Zhou Yuelong, Yuan Sijun and Lei Peifan, all regrettably lost and did not have the opportunity to enter Crucible. Ding Junhui and Lu Haotian, who advanced to the qualifiers, had the opportunity to meet strong opponents and the possibility of civil war in the main draw, which became one of the hot topics before the draw.
The draw ceremony took place at 6:00 p.m. Beijing time, and was presided over and drawn by the well-known British emcee Rob Walker and the previous champion John Parrott and the sponsor representatives, as follows: (seed pick in parentheses)
Upper Half:
Selby (1) vs Jamie Jones
Yan Bingtao (16) vs Wecklin
Hawkins (9) vs Parcs
Williams (8) vs Michael White
Karen Wilson (5) vs Ding Junhui
Bingham (12) vs Lu Haotian
McGill (13) vs Highfield
Trump (4) vs Wafi
Lower Half:
Robertson (3) vs Hugh Gill
Lisowski (14) vs Stevens
Brechel (11) vs Sankham
Higgins (6) vs Tachaia
Zhao Xintong (7) vs Clark
Murphy (10) vs Maguire
Allen (15) vs Donaldson
O'Sullivan (2) vs Gilbert
According to the schedule, at 5 p.m. Beijing time on April 16, defending champions Selby and Zhao Xintong will appear together in the opener, playing against Jamie Jones and Clark respectively. The first round of ding junhui and Wilson will start at 5 p.m. Beijing time on April 20, Yan Bingtao and Wei Kelin will play at 5 p.m. on April 19, and Lu Haotian's match with Bingham will be played at 2 a.m. on April 19. The first round will continue to be played in a 19-set, 10-win format, with two sessions, with the first stage playing nine innings and the second stage playing up to 10 innings.