White's Crucible ambition

White: Crucible ambition

Also see

• Snooker Schedule
• World Rankings
• Snooker DVDs

Jimmy White says making the Crucible this year is his burning ambition, despite the danger that he could lose his place on the tour for next season.

The Whirlwind has slipped further down the rankings of failing to qualify for both the Welsh Open and China Open recently, and he is flirting with the prospect of dropping out of the tour.

47-year-old White needs to win three matches at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield if he is to once more appear at the Crucible in the World Snooker Championship.

The ever-popular six-time Crucible finalist would be hugely missed at the Crucible, and he will not face an easy ride in the qualifying competition.

Should he beat Patrick Wallace or Mark Boyle in his first qualifying match on March 3, White would then have to battle past former world champion Ken Doherty and Joe Swail to get to the Crucible.

Practice

White says he has been hitting the practice table hard recently in a bid to make the Crucible, and says he is not even thinking about his world ranking problems.

"I'm not thinking about that because I'm just concentrating on getting to the Crucible," said White. "It's my burning ambition to get there.

"The last few weeks have been painful for me. I played in the Masters and I was over-whelmed by the support I got. But the table was faster than what I am used to, I couldn't settle and the nerves got to me.

"Then in the Welsh Open qualifiers I was 4-0 up on Ian McCulloch, he made an amazing clearance and came back to beat me 5-4 on a respotted black.

"And in the China qualifiers I was 3-1 and 74 points up against Xiao Guodong, but ended up losing 5-4 again. I was devastated by those two results. I've been practising five or six hours a day."

White's confidence has since been buoyed by an exhibition in Grimsby in which he made a 147 maximum break and a 146 in the last two frames.

"That was a special night and it shows that I'm hitting the ball well," he added. "I just need to take some form into the World qualifiers."

The World Snooker Championship qualifiers run from February 26 to March 9, and joining White are former champions Steve Davis, Graeme Dott and John Parrott all vying for a place in the final stages.