2017 World Snooker Championship 2017 World Snooker Championship The 2017 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2017 Betfred World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 15 April to 1 May 2017 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 19th and final ranking event of the 2016/2017 season. The tournament was the 40th anniversary of the World Championships at the Crucible and was broadcast in Europe by the BBC and Eurosport. Defending champion Mark Selby retained his title, beating John Higgins 18–15 in the final, despite falling to 4–10 behind
2016 World Snooker Championship frames were shared until Selby won the final two frames to win the match 17–15. The 32nd frame also lasted more than an hour. Ding Junhui was the first qualifier to contest the final since Judd Trump was beaten by John Higgins in 2011. The Chinese player also became the first Asian finalist at the Crucible, and the match drew a peak television audience of over 42 million in China on CCTV-5. In the first session of the final, Mark Selby took a 6–0 lead, before Ding won the last two frames of the session to leave Selby 6–2 ahead.