World Snooker Championship: Iran's Hossein Vafaei to make Crucible debut

The first player from Iran to compete at the World Championship will be Hossein Vafaei, who won a final-frame decider against Lei Peifan in the final round of qualification.

Vafaei made six half-century breaks, including a clearance of 54, to earn a 10-9 victory.

The world number 18 got a reprieve when China's Lei missed an easy red to the middle in the final frame.

I am so happy that I have made my people proud, said world number 18 Vafaei.

All of my body was shaking. I was eating a lot of chocolate to try to calm myself down but it was not working.

I forgot how to hold the cue. I promise I will play better than that, I can't wait to get there. I hope this will encourage more people to play snooker, and make it big for me.

Australia's Neil Robertson and Ireland's Ken Doherty are the only non-British players to have won the title at the tournament.

Jackson Page made two century breaks in his win over David Grace to make his Crucible debut.

David Gilbert recovered from a slow start to make a century in the fourth frame as he went on to win 10-3 over Anthony Hamilton.

Matthew Stevens broke three times as he came from behind to beat Ali Carter 10-8 in a high scoring encounter.

Jamie Clarke won 10-8 over the 2006 champion, Graeme Dott, with a trio of blacks.

Noppon Saengkham won the final three frames to rally for a 10-8 victory over Robert Milkins, while Chris Wakelin took four of the last five frames for a 10-7 win over Jimmy Robertson, and Liam Highfield secured a 10-7 win over Yuan Sijun.

The draw for the first round of the World Championship takes place on Thursday, with the tournament starting on Saturday.