The hours have been put in as Kyren gears up for the Worlds

Kyren Wilson says he has been putting in the hours more than he ever has done before in preparation for the Betfred World Snooker Championship.

The Kettering star, who is ranked number eight in the world, is gearing up for a World Championship like no other at the historic Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

The event had been due to take place as usual at the end of April and into May but was postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Now, three months down the line, the world’s best snooker players are ready to head to Sheffield for the Championship which is being used as a pilot event to help bring crowds back into live sport.

As far as the players are concerned, it will be as level of a playing field as perhaps it ever has been with very little in the way of competitive snooker to judge anyone’s form.

Wilson felt he was in a good groove before the pandemic struck.

But, after enjoying some welcome time with his family, he insists his focus for the last six weeks has been on the World Championship, which gets under way on Friday.

“It’s going to be really strange,” Wilson said.

“It’s a shame for me in a way because I was looking quite good and my form was starting to get better and better so I was quite looking forward to the World Championship at the normal time.

“Nobody could have foreseen what was going to happen but I have been working really hard.

“I had a good two months off where I didn’t really play at all. I spent a lot of time with the family and that’s time I will probably never be given again, which is the same for many people. When you are working so hard, you kind of take your family for granted.

“I have really enjoyed that but over the last six weeks I have really been putting the hours in, probably more than I ever have done before.”

The tournament has been chosen as one of a handful of events to stress-test the UK government’s guidance on fans returning to elite sporting events after the coronavirus shutdown.

Fans attending will be asked to follow a code of conduct and Wilson fully trusts the World Snooker Tour to pull it off.

“It was looking like we were going to be playing in front of nobody so at least there is going to be a nice bit of atmosphere,” the 28-year-old said.

“I trust in what’s going to be put in place. I think the work the World Snooker Tour have done so far has been fantastic during this pandemic so, for me, I don’t think they would be doing it if they didn’t think they could make it safe.

“You have to look at it from the supporters’ point of view. For people’s mental health and things like that, I think it’s great you can return to doing things that you love doing.

“For snooker fans, the Crucible is on their bucket list. Even for those who aren’t the biggest fans, if they ever want to go and watch something to do with snooker it’s always the Crucible.

“From their point of view, it’s great that we are leading the way for some sort of crowd returning the live sport.”

The hopes of fellow county players Jamie O’Neill and Harvey Chandler joining Wilson at the Crucible were ended during the World Championship Qualifiers last week.

Wellingborough’s O’Neill got through his first-round match with Oliver Brown by a 6-5 scoreline thanks to a break of 64 in the deciding frame.

But he was on the wrong end of the same scoreline at the next stage when, after leading 5-3 at one stage, he was edged out by Michael White.

Raunds’ Chandler started in the second round but was unable to progress further after he went down 6-2 to Jackson Page.