Here is the announcement by WST
Halo World Championship 2026: The Draw
The draw for the final stages of the 2026 Halo World Championship has been made, with defending champion Zhao Xintong facing Liam Highfield.
It was conducted on BBC 5 Live Breakfast by presenters Rachel Burden and Rick Edwards, with 2010 World Champion Neil Robertson in attendance. The 16 seeded players were drawn out at random against the 16 qualifiers.
Other highlights include 2024 World Champion Kyren Wilson being pitted against teenage star Stan Moody, Poland’s first Crucible competitor Antoni Kowalski facing Mark Williams and Ronnie O’Sullivan going up against He Guoqiang.
…
Zhao Xintong v Liam Highfield
Ding Junhui v David GilbertXiao Guodong v Zhou Yuelong
Shaun Murphy v Fan ZhengyiJohn Higgins v Ali Carter
Ronnie O’Sullivan v He GuoqiangChris Wakelin v Liam Pullen
Neil Robertson v Pang Junxu——————
Kyren Wilson v Stan Moody
Mark Allen v Zhang AndaBarry Hawkins v Matthew Stevens
Mark Williams v Antoni KowalskiMark Selby v Jak Jones
Wu Yize v Lei PeifanSi Jiahui v Hossein Vafaei
Judd Trump v Gary Wilson
There are no easy draws at the Crucible of course, but Ronnie certainly hasn’t it easy. He Guoqiang is very dangerous and, should Ronnie win his opening match, John Higgins or Ali Carter will be waiting, which is probably about the worse he could have got at that stage. That said neither Higgins nor Carter must be thrilled about their first round clash … it’s brutal.
“There are no easy draws at the Crucible of course, but Ronnie certainly hasn’t it easy. He Guoqiang is very dangerous and, should Ronnie win his opening match, John Higgins or Ali Carter will be waiting, which is probably about the worse he could have got at that stage. That said neither Higgins nor Carter must be thrilled about their first round clash … it’s brutal.”
Dave Hendon just took the complete opposite opinion.