Reigning Crucible king John Higgins will face women’s world champion Reanne Evans in the group stage of the inaugural Six Reds World Championship, in association with 888sport.com, in Killarney later this month.
EDIT: Note that the tournament starts tomorrow, Tuesday 15th December.
Higgins has been paired in Group B alongside Evans, the runaway no.1 in the women’s world rankings, Adiyta Mehta from India, Bahrain’s Punit Sagar and Irishman James Corbett.
Stephen Hendry, who won the 15 red world title seven times at the Crucible in Sheffield, will play German-based Brazilian Itaro Santos and Habib Subah of Bahrain.
Shaun Murphy, the 2005 world champion, is in a group which includes Igor Figueiredo, a Brazilian who finished runner-up in the IBSF world amateur championship last month.
And 2002 world champion Peter Ebdon faces a clash with former world no.6 Mike Hallett.
Nottingham’s Michael Holt is among the players who will take on snooker legend Alex Higgins.
Three players from each group will progress to the knockout phase. Live coverage of the last two days, including the final, will be screened on Eurosport.
Six reds snooker is played using the same rules as the established game but with nine fewer reds. It has been described as snooker’s version of Twenty/20 cricket.
The World Championship runs at the INEC in Killarney from December 15 to 18. Entry is free for the first two days with tickets costing €10 on the final two days.
Full group draw below:
| Group A | Group B | |||||
| A1 | Shaun Murphy | England | B1 | John Higgins | Scotland | |
| A2 | Igor Figueiredo | Brazil | B2 | Aditya Mehta | India | |
| A3 | Declan Brennan | N.Ireland | B3 | Reanne Evans | England | |
| A4 | Martin Divilly | Ireland | B4 | Punit Sagar | Bahrain | |
| A5 | Kevin Bowman | Ireland | B5 | James Corbett | Ireland | |
| Group C | Group D | |||||
| C1 | Ali Carter | England | D1 | Ryan Day | Wales | |
| C2 | Jamie Jones | Wales | D2 | Mario Fernandez | Ireland | |
| C3 | John Torpey | Ireland | D3 | Gareth Allen | England | |
| C4 | Daniel Dempsey | Ireland | D4 | John Coxes | England | |
| C5 | Adel Omar Meawad | Egypt | D5 | Gavin Stokes | Ireland | |
| Group E | Group F | |||||
| E1 | Marco Fu | China HK | F1 | Stephen Hendry | Scotland | |
| E2 | Liam Highfield | England | F2 | Habib Subah | Bahrain | |
| E3 | Eissa Al Sayed | UAE | F3 | Itaro Santos | Brazil | |
| E4 | Clinton Franey | Ireland | F4 | Shea Brereton | Ireland | |
| E5 | Michael Bumster | Ireland | F5 | Patrick Lally | Ireland | |
| Group G | Group H | |||||
| G1 | Mark Allen | Northern Ireland | H1 | Joe Perry | England | |
| G2 | Mohammed Shehab | UAE | H2 | Mohammed Al Joker | UAE | |
| G3 | Greg Casey | Ireland | H3 | Robert Murphy | Ireland | |
| G4 | Muhammad Atiq | Pakistan | H4 | Oliver Browne | England | |
| G5 | Raymond McHugh | Ireland | H5 | Kevin O’Leary | Ireland | |
| Group I | Group J | |||||
| I1 | Peter Ebdon | England | J1 | Mark Williams | Wales | |
| I2 | Andrew Pagett | Wales | J2 | Leo Fernandez | Ireland | |
| I3 | Mike Hallett | England | J3 | Ian Glover | England | |
| I4 | Darren Merza | Ireland | J4 | Joe Corrigan | Ireland | |
| I5 | David Foran | Ireland | J5 | Dane Mulpeter | Ireland | |
| Group K | Group L | |||||
| K1 | Mark King | England | L1 | Barry Hawkins | England | |
| K2 | Martin McCrudden | Ireland | L2 | Vincent Muldoon | Ireland | |
| K3 | Darren Dornan | N.Ireland | L3 | Michael Smyth | N.Ireland | |
| K4 | David Eliyau | Israel | L4 | Brendan Thomas | Ireland | |
| K5 | Alan Cleary | Ireland | L5 | Paul Mount | England | |
| Group M | Group N | |||||
| M1 | Jamie Cope | England | N1 | Dave Harold | England | |
| M2 | Adam Duffy | England | N2 | Jordan Brown | Northern Ireland | |
| M3 | Philip Wildman | England | N3 | Mitchell Mann | England | |
| M4 | David Cassidy | Ireland | N4 | Stephen Sherry | Ireland | |
| M5 | Damien Long | Ireland | N5 | Chris Kilcoyle | Ireland | |
| Group O | Group P | |||||
| O1 | Ricky Walden | England | P1 | Stuart Bingham | England | |
| O2 | Tony Drago | Malta | P2 | Brendan O’Donoghue | Ireland | |
| O3 | Shabazz Khan | India | P3 | Neil Craycraft | England | |
| O4 | John McBride | Ireland | P4 | James Fennessy | Ireland | |
| O5 | Robbie Walker | Ireland | P5 | Mohammed Siddiq | Pakistan | |
| Group Q | Group R | |||||
| Q1 | Joe Swail | Northern Ireland | R1 | Michael Holt | England | |
| Q2 | Michael White | Wales | R2 | David Hogan | Ireland | |
| Q3 | John Rea | Scotland | R3 | Alex Higgins | N.Ireland | |
| Q4 | Philip Burke | Ireland | R4 | Alex O Donoghue | England | |
| Q5 | Mohammad Khizar Raoof | India | R5 | Jim Stewart | Scotland | |
| Group S | Group T | |||||
| S1 | Stephen Lee | England | T1 | Matthew Stevens | Wales | |
| S2 | Ben Wollaston | England | T2 | Joe Delaney | Ireland | |
| S3 | Michael Walsey | England | T3 | Marc Davis | Scotland | |
| S4 | Hugh Murdock | N.Ireland | T4 | Philip Browne | Ireland | |
| S5 | Barry Mulpeter | Ireland | T5 | Gary Walsh | Ireland | |
| Group U | Group V | |||||
| U1 | Liang Wenbo | China | V1 | Nigel Bond | England | |
| U2 | David Morris | Ireland | V2 | Robert Milkins | England | |
| U3 | Lucky Vatnani | India | V3 | Peter Bullen | Belgium | |
| U4 | Aaron Doran | N.Ireland | V4 | Gennaro Delvecchio | England | |
| U5 | Anthony O’Connor | Ireland | V5 | Ray Power | Ireland | |
| Group W | Group X | |||||
| W1 | Fergal O Brien | Ireland | X1 | Gerard Greene | Northern Ireland | |
| W2 | Barry Pinches | England | X2 | Mark Davis | England | |
| W3 | Ross Higgins | Scotland | X3 | Greg Batton | England | |
| W4 | Jason Waters | Ireland | X4 | Richie Flynn | Ireland | |
| W5 | Brendan Murphy | Ireland | X5 | Joe Charles | Ireland | |
| Group Y | Group Z | |||||
| Y1 | Michael Judge | Ireland | Z1 | Andrew Higginson | England | |
| Y2 | Marcus Campbell | Scotland | Z2 | Ken Doherty | Ireland | |
| Y3 | Kieran McMahon | N.Ireland | Z3 | Sascha Ruhberg | Israel | |
| Y4 | Kieran O Leary | England | Z4 | Lewis Miles | England | |
| Y5 | Imran Faood | Ireland | Z5 | Lee Gorton | England | |