Ronnie O'Sullivan drawn to play women's world number one at the 2024 International Championship

The draw for the £825,000 ranking event was released on Tuesday by the World Snooker Tour. Featuring 128 contestants in a flat draw system, O'Sullivan is one of nine players who have had their first round matches held over to the main venue and televised stages in Nanjing, with those final stages taking place between November 3-10.

It will be the first time that O'Sullivan has faced Nutcharut in a ranking event. Nutcharut - a 24-year-old from Thailand - currently sits top of the World Women's Snooker Tour rankings. In 2022, Nutcharut won the World Women's Snooker Championship, an accolade that qualified her for a place on the professional tour for the first time.

In 2019 at the Hi-End Snooker Club in Bangkok, Nutcharut compiled a recorded maximum 147 break in a practice match. She is recognised as being the first woman player to have achieved verified perfection.

Nutcharut isn't the only woman professional to have been dealt a glamour tie in the 2024 International Championship, with record 12-time World Women's Snooker Champion Reanne Evans looking forward to a meeting with Chinese superstar Ding Junhui in the first round in the Far East.

The other cueists who will play their opening matches in China include reigning World Champion Kyren Wilson (v Mitchell Mann), defending International Championship title holder Zhang Anda (v Ishpreet Singh Chadha) and top 16 star Si Jiahui (v Andrew Pagett).

David Grace, Ali Carter, Noppon Saengkham and Hossein Vafaei will all play a local wildcard in round one at the main venue, too.

Majority of first round matches take place in Sheffield

All the remaining round one matches in the 2024 International Championship, though, will be played at Ponds Forge in Sheffield, England between September 30 to October 2.

World number one and two-time International Championship winner Judd Trump is set to travel to Yorkshire for his opening assignment of the competition against Chris Totten.

Champion in 2018, Mark Allen faces Farakh Ajaib, while Mark Selby - the only player to have successfully defended the International Championship - meets Latvian teenage rookie Artemijs Zizins.

As well as Ding, Zhang, Trump, Allen and Selby, John Higgins and Ricky Walden are the other winners of the title. Higgins plays Ken Doherty and Walden is up against Xing Zihao.

Last year's International Championship runner-up Tom Ford has been pitched with teenager Stan Moody.

All matches in the first round are the best of 11 frames. For the full 2024 International Championship draw, please visit our tournament information page here.

Northern Ireland Open to get underway in Sheffield

Before the International Championship begins at Ponds Forge, the opening two rounds of the 2024 Northern Ireland Open will be completed across the weekend of September 28 & 29.

This year's Northern Ireland Open is the second Home Nations Series event of the 2024/25 season following Neil Robertson's title success at the recent English Open.

The main venue and televised stages will take place at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast between October 20-27 - this is where the tournament's top 32 seeds start their campaigns in round three (last 64).

Due to the Home Nations Series events this season using a tiered draw, the opening two rounds involve entries who aren't a top 32 seed, and these matches are set to be played on eight tables in Sheffield this upcoming weekend. The 32 players who emerge from Sunday's round two book a ticket to Belfast and a meeting with one of the top seeds in round three.

For the full 2024 Northern Ireland Open draw, please visit our tournament information page here. Please note, the round three draw and the identities of the top ranked players who have entered the 2024 Northern Ireland Open have yet to be released.