Steve Davis and Jimmy White set for World qualifiers

Davis won the last of his six world titles in 1989

Six-time world champion Steve Davis and six-time runner-up Jimmy White aim to return to the Crucible via the World Championship qualifiers this week.

Davis, 54, whose last triumph came in 1989, will take on world number 48 Ben Woollaston on Wednesday.

White, 49, will play China's Liu Chuang or England's Rod Lawler on Thursday.

Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry and previous winners Ken Doherty and Peter Ebdon also need to earn their places having fallen out of the top 16.

The trio will enter qualifying in the fifth and final round over the weekend and require just one win to book a return to the Crucible and the scene of their greatest triumphs.

Hendry will play the winner of Matthew Selt and Yu Delu, Doherty plays either Anthony Hamilton or Anthony McGill and Ebdon takes on Jack Lisowski, Alfie Burden or David Grace.

Another former champion, John Parrott, who lost to Davis in the 1989 final before beating White in 1991, was eliminated at the first attempt after entering the qualifiers two years after retiring from the professional game.

The 47-year-old, who still competes on the Snooker Legends circuit alongside Davis, White and Hendry, was whitewashed 5-0 by Northern Irishman Patrick Wallace, but was not too despondent given the nature of his 'comeback'.

"I got cajoled into it in a moment of weakness," Parrott told BBC Sport. "We had a conversation at the dinner table and my son said: 'Why don't you enter the qualifying competition?'

"I had the distinction of being the first player to be knocked out! I should have won a couple of frames, mind.

"If anyone asks me again, I am just going to go to the cash machine, take £200 out [the cost of entering the qualifiers] and give them the money there and then! I did it just to see if I enjoyed it.

"I did quite enjoy it, but the fact that it didn't hurt showed me that I am more than happy to be retired and it was the right decision to stop."

Once the qualifiers are complete, the top 16 will learn their first-round Crucible opponents when the draw is made on Monday, 16 April.