Ronnie O’Sullivan v Jackson Page live stream: World Snooker Championship 2024 preview

Ronnie O’Sullivan begins his bid for an historic eighth World Championship title with a First Round tie against Jackson Page at The Crucible.

O’Sullivan is embarking on a record 32nd consecutive Crucible campaign and is vying to become the outright most successful player in the modern history of the competition.

Having already secured the UK Championship and Masters titles this season, the 48-year-old is also looking to create another slice of personal history by recording a first seasonal Triple Crown, with only Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Mark Williams having achieved the feat to date.

O’Sullivan, who made his World Championship debut at the tender age of 17 back in 1993, has gone on to reach eight finals in Sheffield and has made three maximum breaks, including his record fastest in 1997 at five minutes and eight seconds.

This season, ‘The Rocket’ has handpicked his playing schedule to great effect, with his UK Championship and World Grand Prix triumphs taking his tally of career ranking titles to 41.

He has also won The Masters, Shanghai Masters and Saudi World Masters and finished runner-up at the Tour Championship earlier this month.

The world number one has suffered just four First Round exits at The Crucible, the most recent of which coming in 2019, and he starts out as heavy favourite to deny Page a famous scalp.

Page is making only his second appearance in the sport’s blue riband event, having beaten Barry Hawkins on his debut two years ago before being thrashed 13-3 by his mentor Mark Williams in the Last 16.

The 22-year-old returns to Sheffield in a rich vein of form, having reached his first ranking semi-final at the World Open in Yushan last month with wins over John Higgins and Mark Selby along the way.

Prior to that timely run, the world number 43 had failed to surpass the Second Round stage of a ranking event this season.

O’Sullivan has won both of his previous meetings with Page, prevailing 6-3 in the 2017 UK Championship and 4-1 in the 2023 English Open.

The match gets under way from 2.30pm BST on Wednesday for a maximum of nine frames, before resuming to a finish over the best of 19 from 1pm on Thursday.

Either 2013 world finalist Barry Hawkins or former ranking event winner Ryan Day will await the winner in the Last 16.

How to watch Ronnie O’Sullivan v Jackson Page live stream

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3) Once registered, go to the sports homepage and select ‘Snooker’ from the left-hand menu

4) Select the play icon next to the match in progress and the stream window will appear

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4) Go to the Snooker menu and select ‘Watch Live’ next to the match in progress

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