1996 World Snooker Championship

Tournament summary

• In the first round, Alain Robidoux accused Ronnie O'Sullivan of showing him disrespect by playing left-handed for most of the eleventh of their , and refused to shake hands with O'Sullivan when the match ended. O'Sullivan's reaction to this was to claim that "I'm better with my left hand than he was with his right."
• O'Sullivan received a two-year suspended ban and a £20,000 fine, plus another £10,000 to be donated to charity, for an alleged assault on an official.
• Terry Griffiths won his first round match for the 14th time in a row (the first being in 1983), a record that was beaten in 2018 by Ronnie O'Sullivan. In the second round, Griffiths lost 8–13 against Steve Davis, his seventh loss in seven matches against Davis at the Crucible.
• O'Sullivan's 13–4 victory over Tony Drago in the second round set the record for the fastest best-of-25-frames match in a professional tournament at just 167 minutes and 33 seconds.
• The final is the only time in Crucible history that the world champion did not take the last shot of the championship. Needing snookers, Peter Ebdon missed a shot and left Stephen Hendry a simple pot, but decided to concede the match rather than let Hendry continue.
• This was Hendry's fifth consecutive title, a record for the modern era.
• Legendary BBC commentator Ted Lowe retired after the conclusion of the final.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:

• Winner: £200,000
• Runner-up: £120,000
• Semi-final: £60,000
• Quarter-final: £30,500
• Last 16: £16,000
• Last 32: £9,000
• Highest break: £17,000
• Maximum break: £147,000
• Total: £1,200,000

Main draw

Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).

Best of 19 frames Best of 25 frames Best of 25 frames Best of 31 frames Best of 35 frames |20 April|Scotland Stephen Hendry (1)|10|England Jason Ferguson|8 |21 & 22 April|England David Roe (16)|9|England Gary Wilkinson|10 |23 April|Ireland Ken Doherty (9)|10|England Nick Terry|5 |24 April|Wales Darren Morgan (8)|10|Scotland Drew Henry|8 |24 & 25 April|Thailand James Wattana (5)|10|England Jimmy Michie|8 |22 & 23 April|England Nigel Bond (12)|10|England Anthony Hamilton|9 |20 & 21 April|England Dave Harold (13)|10|England Neal Foulds|4 |21 & 22 April|England John Parrott (4)|6|England Rod Lawler|10 |20 & 21 April|England Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)|10|Canada Alain Robidoux|3 |20 & 21 April|Malta Tony Drago (14)|10|England Steve James|2 |23 & 24 April|Scotland John Higgins (11)|10|England Martin Clark|5 |22 & 23 April|Scotland Alan McManus (6)|10|England Mick Price|5 |24 & 25 April|England Jimmy White (7)|10|Scotland Euan Henderson|9 |20 & 21 April|England Peter Ebdon (10)|10|New Zealand Dene O'Kane|1 |23 & 24 April|Wales Terry Griffiths (15)|10|Scotland Jamie Burnett|9 |22 April|England Steve Davis (2)|10|England Willie Thorne|8 |26 & 27 April|Scotland Stephen Hendry (1)|13|England Gary Wilkinson|7 |28 & 29 April|Ireland Ken Doherty (9)|5|Wales Darren Morgan (8)|13 |27, 28 & 29 April|Thailand James Wattana (5)|4|England Nigel Bond (12)|13 |25, 26 & 27 April|England Dave Harold (13)|13|England Rod Lawler|6 |25 & 26 April|England Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)|13|Malta Tony Drago (14)|4 |27, 28 & 29 April|Scotland John Higgins (11)|13|Scotland Alan McManus (6)|5 |28 & 29 April|England Jimmy White (7)|12|England Peter Ebdon (10)|13 |26 & 27 April|Wales Terry Griffiths (15)|8|England Steve Davis (2)|13 |30 April & 1 May|Scotland Stephen Hendry (1)|13|Wales Darren Morgan (8)|5 |30 April & 1 May|England Nigel Bond (12)|13|England Dave Harold (13)|7 |30 April & 1 May|England Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)|13|Scotland John Higgins (11)|12 |30 April & 1 May|England Peter Ebdon (10)|13|England Steve Davis (2)|10 |2, 3 & 4 May|Scotland Stephen Hendry (1)|16|England Nigel Bond (12)|7 |2, 3 & 4 May|England Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)|14|England Peter Ebdon (10)|16 |5 & 6 May|Scotland Stephen Hendry (1)|18|England Peter Ebdon (10)|12

|(Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 5 May & 6 May 1996. Referee: John Williams |Stephen Hendry (1)

|18–12 |Peter Ebdon (10)

|2–121, 75–42, 34–78, 34–61, 65–51, 18–57, 103–4, 74–39, 60–58, 125–0, 22–81, 70–31, 70–77, 134–0, 74–0, 82–0, 85–14, 1–75, 86–21, 83–23, 34–89, 0–77, 60–66, 96–0, 54–27, 78–23, 77–25, 1–71, 39–83, 73–16 |Century breaks: 1 (Hendry 1) Highest break by Hendry: 125

Highest break by Ebdon: 79 |2–121, 75–42, 34–78, 34–61, 65–51, 18–57, 103–4, 74–39, 60–58, 125–0, 22–81, 70–31, 70–77, 134–0, 74–0, 82–0, 85–14, 1–75, 86–21, 83–23, 34–89, 0–77, 60–66, 96–0, 54–27, 78–23, 77–25, 1–71, 39–83, 73–16 |Scotland Stephen Hendry wins the 1996 Embassy World Snooker Championship |Best of 19 frames |Best of 25 frames |Best of 25 frames |Best of 31 frames

Century breaks

There were 48 century breaks in the 1996 World Snooker Championship, a new record which would last until 1998. The highest break of the tournament was 144 made by both Peter Ebdon and Tony Drago. Stephen Hendry made 11 century breaks in the tournament, one short of his record of 12 set the previous year.

• 144, 138, 137, 123, 109, 107, 100, 100 Peter Ebdon
• 144, 115 Tony Drago
• 139, 126, 120, 106, 103, 102, 102, 101, 100 Ronnie O'Sullivan
• 137, 130, 104, 101 John Higgins
• 135, 125, 121, 118, 113, 110, 108, 106, 105, 104, 104 Stephen Hendry
• 129 Jason Ferguson
• 125 Alan McManus
• 123, 120, 101 Dave Harold
• 116, 105, 104, 103 Steve Davis
• 115 Anthony Hamilton
• 110 Darren Morgan
• 109 Ken Doherty
• 103 Euan Henderson
• 100 Jimmy White

References

References

1. (22 April 1996). "Anger over left-leaning O'Sullivan". [[The Independent]].
2. (15 December 2006). "Bad breaks mount up for a troubled soul". The Independent.
3. (7 May 2003). "Bad Boys: Ronnie O'Sullivan". [[BBC Sport]].
4. "Terry Griffiths at the World Championships".
5. Kastner, Hugo. "SNOOKER – Spieler, Regeln & Rekorde (May 2011 update)".
6. Downer, Chris. (2012). "Crucible Almanac".
7. Turner, Chris. "Various Snooker Records". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive.
8. Downer, Chris. (2012). "Crucible Almanac".
9. "Embassy World Championship". Snooker.org.
10. "Embassy World Championship". Snooker Scene.
11. Downer, Chris. (2012). "Crucible Almanac".
12. Downer, Chris. (2012). "Crucible Almanac".
13. Downer, Chris. (2012). "Crucible Almanac".
14. Eric, Hayton. (2004). "The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker: The Complete Record & History". Rose Villa Publications.