The Crucible Curse will be one weight on the mind of Mark Selby on Saturday, but the mercurial talents of a debutant capable of ‘absolutely murdering anybody’ will be another altogether. The world champion will have to negotiate both if he is to make history in Sheffield. It is one of the quirks of this venue that no first-time winner has retained his title the next year. While that statistical curiosity has added an element of pressure to Selby, so too has the presence of Kurt Maflin, one of four men making their first appearance in the main draw. Mark Selby poses with the trophy after winning the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible in 2014 . What an intriguing figure he is, a Londoner based in Norway who was once a child star but has reached the age of 31 without making any great dents on the game. That appears to be changing with his recent appearance in the China Open semi-final, where he lost 6-3 to Selby. He is one of only 21 players in history to have hit multiple 147 breaks in professional competitions. Maflin’s chances against the world No 1 appear slim in the extreme, but six-time runner up Jimmy White told Sportsmail: ‘He has got one of the biggest talents I have seen in the game. If he produces his game he could absolutely murder anybody. Let us see how he gets on against Selby. He is the one who could produce something magical. He is very exciting and very attacking. If they go in he can beat anyone.’ Maflin demonstrated those gifts in demolishing Steve Davis 10-1 in qualifying. But Selby ought to be a significantly different proposition, having won two titles this season ahead of his defence, which starts this morning. Selby (above) will face tournament debutant Kurt Maflin in the first round on Saturday . Maflin (above lost to Selby in the semi-final of the World Snooker China Open earlier this month . White has tipped Selby as one of his ‘three to watch, with Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan, my big favourite’. Referring to the hoodoo surrounding first-time winners, Selby said: ‘It is a curse and it is going to be difficult but I will just try my best. It shows how difficult the tournament is to win. It is in the back of my mind, you can’t take that away. Just to win it once as I did last year was a fantastic achievement for me but to win it twice and break the curse would be outstanding. ‘Even if I wasn’t defending champion I’d be nervous. It would be wrong if you didn’t get butterflies because it is such a great tournament and such a great venue. But hopefully the nerves will inspire me and I’ll play better.’ O’Sullivan begins his bid for a sixth world title against debutant Craig Steadman on Tuesday.
Mark Selby plays Kurt Maflin in first round of the World Championnship.
Selby is the defending champion but no first-time winner has retained it.
Jimmy White told Sportsmail Maflin can beat anyone on his day.