Hicks 'haunted' by Crucible disappointments as he plots long-awaited return

Qualifying stages for Snooker World Championship begin this week

Andy Hicks stormed all the way to the semi-finals on his debut appearance in 1995, but has only won one more match since.

It is over a quarter of a century since Andy Hicks completed one of the biggest upsets in World Championship history by sinking six-time champion and number two seed Steve Davis in the first round at the Crucible.

Hicks, then 21, stormed all the way to the semi-finals on his debut appearance in 1995, also beating Willie Thorne and Peter Ebdon, but was never able to repeat his heroics, and would win only one more match in seven subsequent visits to the Crucible.