White and Doherty progress as Cooper begins World Seniors Snooker Championships challenge in televised Crucible debut

Defending champion Jimmy White and Stephen Hendry are the headliners at this year’s tournament, which got underway at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre yesterday, and is being televised live by the BBC for the first time.

White, seven-time world champion Hendry, 1997 world champion Ken Doherty and UK Seniors champion Michael Judge are the four seeded players while 1985 world champion Dennis Taylor and former world runner-up Nigel Bond are also in the draw.

Cooper, 42, was not in the event’s original line-up but answered the call to replace Malta’s Tony Drago, who made the difficult decision not to travel on health grounds.

Now, the man from Bradford will hope to make an immediate impression on his Crucible debut when he takes on this season’s Super Seniors number one ranked player Gary Filtness in the first round (1pm).

Yesterday’s action included Ken Doherty's 4-3 victory over fellow Irishman Rodney Goggins, Darren Morgan’s 4-2 triumph against 2018 defeated finalist Patrick Wallace, Jimmy White’s 4-1 win over Joe Johnson and Jersey’s Aaron Canavan’s 4-3 success in the clash with Ireland’s Leo Fernandez.

Should Cooper see-off Filtness, he will go up against the winner of this afternoon’s match between Dennis Taylor and Michael Judge in the next round.

The first round concludes this evening, when Hendry goes up against Bond and former world number two Tony Knowles faces Peter Lines.

All matches throughout the championship are the best of seven frames, with the exception of the final, which will be the best of nine.

The second round games will be played tomorrow, Friday, with the semi-finals and final on Saturday.