Heathcote’s world hopes are ended by ex-champion

LOUIS Heathcote’s hopes of qualifying for the World Championship for the first time were ended by former champion Stuart Bingham.

The Leicester player lost a tense match 10-8 to Bingham in the last qualifying round at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

Bingham had trailed 8-7 in a see-saw encounter, but produced a solid finale with knocks of 60, 135 and 71 to book his return trip to the Crucible in some style.

Heathcote, ranked 100th in the world, was aiming to reach the Crucible for the first time.

He made breaks of 125 and 126, but missed a vital pink that would have put him 9-7 ahead.

Bingham, the 2015 world champion, had fought back from 4-1, 7-3 and 9-7 down to beat Stuart Carrington 10-9 in the third qualifying round.

Leicester’s four-time world champion Mark Selby was due to find out his opening opponent at the Crucible with the first round draw being made today.

Despite another torrid season which saw recently threaten to quit the sport, Selby, below, showed his quality with a stunning 6-0 whitewash of Ronnie O’Sullivan in the Players Championship in Telford in February.

But the 40-year-old has repeatedly shown the tenacity to grind his way through the rounds, and is expected to be in the running for a fifth world title.

Selby’s first round match gets under way at 10am on Sunday, while fellow Leicester player Tom Ford begins his campaign at 7pm on Sunday.

The 40-year-old has yet to win a ranking title or match in Sheffield but this year marks his first Crucible appearance as one of the seeds.

Ford has enjoyed a strong season to earn his place in the world’s top 16, reaching the quarter-finals at the British Open, Wuhan Open and the Scottish Open.

However, the highlight of his campaign came in Tianjin at the International Championship last year.

Ford beat the likes of Selby and Barry Hawkins en route to his third ranking event final, but finished runner-up to Zhang

Anda.