Maltese international referee Terry Camilleri will be officiating in the 888.com World Snooker Championship 2008 which will be held at The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, between 19 April and 5 May.

This is the third time that I have been asked to referee in the World Championship. This is the last and highest ranked tournament of the season.

This season Camilleri has been involved in various ranking tournaments which include the Shanghai Masters, Royal London Watches GP, UK Championships and the Malta Cup where he also refereed the final between Shaun Murphy and Ken Doherty.

Defending champion John Higgins faces a tough first round match in this year’s World Championship at The Crucible after being drawn against Matthew Stevens.

The Scot beat Mark Selby last year to lift the title but will need to be at his best against the two-time losing finalist from Wales.

Ronnie O’Sullivan plays 17-year-old qualifier Liu Chuang from China.

This is the first-round draw in full: Ken Doherty (Ire) v Liang Wenbo (Chn), John Higgins (Sco) v Matthew Stevens (Wal), Ali Carter (Eng) v Barry Hawkins (Eng), Ding Junhui (Chn) v Marco Fu (HK), Mark Selby (Eng) v Mark King (Eng), Peter Ebdon (Eng) v Jamie Cope (Eng), Neil Robertson (Aus) v Nigel Bond (Eng), Steve Davis (Eng) v Stuart Bingham (Eng), Ryan Day (Wal) v Michael Judge (Eng), Ronnie O’Sullivan (Eng) v Liu Chuang (Chn), Mark Williams (Wal) v Mark Davis (Eng), Graeme Dott (Sco) v Joe Perry (Eng), Shaun Murphy (Eng) v Dave Harold (Eng), Stephen Lee (Eng) v Joe Swail (NI), Stephen Hendry (Sco) v Mark Allen (NI), Stephen Maguire (Sco) v Anthony Hamilton (Eng)