Carter overcomes neck issue to reach Crucible

Ali Carter reached the World Championship final in 2008 and 2012

Two-time Crucible finalist Ali Carter overcame a neck injury to book his place in the first round of the World Championship with a 10-5 victory over China's He Guoqiang in qualifying.

The 45-year-old Englishman established a 4-0 lead early on but was pegged back to 4-3 before assuming control again to take six of the next eight frames as he sealed his win.

"I have had a terrible neck ache to the extent I was in excruciating pain playing Ian Burns and if I had gone 6-3 behind I was seriously going to withdraw," said Carter, who at 18th in the world, is the highest-ranked player to come through the qualification rounds.

"I managed to clear up to go 5-4 and then I played some decent stuff in the evening.

"I was in agony and it is still not right now but I am battling through. A lot of players get problems with their necks because we are in a unusual position down on shots. I can get home and try and get some physiotherapy."

The draw for the opening round of matches at snooker's blue-riband event will take place on Thursday at 08:45 BST on BBC Radio 5 Live, with it also being streamed on the BBC Sport website and BBC iplayer.

The World Championship gets under way at 10:00 BST on Saturday, 19 April, with defending champion and top seed Kyren Wilson in action.

The final takes place over two days starting on Sunday, 4 May, with £500,000 for the winner.

Joe O'Connor is among those who joined Carter in reaching the televised stages of the tournament at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

The 29-year-old from Leicester defeated Jackson Page 10-7 just days after the Welshman made history by becoming the first player to ever compile two maximum 147 breaks in the same match.

Page's only consolation is that he earned a £147,000 bonus for achieving snooker perfection across one of the sport's four major competitions (Saudi Arabia Masters, UK Championship, The Masters and the World Championship).

Another two-time finalist Matthew Stevens was edged out in a final-frame decider, losing 10-9 to China's Wu Yize.

Fan Zhengyi defeated Michael Holt 10-4 while Iran's Hossein Vafaei crafted five century breaks on his way to a comfortable 10-4 win over Wang Yuchen.

Pang Junxu progressed past Jamie Jones 10-6 as Lei Peifan came from 9-8 down to win 10-9 against his Chinese compatriot and amateur Gao Yang.

Meanwhile, Matthew Selt trailed 8-3 before reeling off seven frames out of eight to win 10-9 against fellow Englishman Jimmy Robertson.