1996 World Snooker Championship

• In the first round, Alain Robidoux accused Ronnie O'Sullivan of showing him disrespect by playing left-handed for most of one frame of their match, and refused to shake hands with O'Sullivan when the match ended.^[1] O'Sullivan's reaction to this was to claim that "I'm better with my left hand than he was with his right."^[2]
• O'Sullivan received a two-year suspended ban and a £20,000 fine, plus another £10,000 to be donated to charity, for an alleged assault on an official.^[3]
• Terry Griffiths won his first round match for the 14th time in a row (the first being in 1983),^[4] a record that was beaten in 2018 by Ronnie O'Sullivan.^[5][6] In the second round, Griffiths lost 8–13 against Steve Davis, his seventh loss in seven matches against Davis at the Crucible.
• O'Sullivan's 13–4 victory over Tony Drago in the second round set the record for the fastest best-of-25-frames match in a professional tournament at just 167 minutes and 33 seconds.^[7]
• The final is the only time in Crucible history that the world champion did not take the last shot of the championship. Needing snookers, Peter Ebdon missed a shot and left Stephen Hendry a simple pot, but decided to concede the match rather than let Hendry continue.
• This was Hendry's fifth consecutive title, a record for the modern era.
• Legendary BBC commentator Ted Lowe retired after the conclusion of the final.

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[8][9]

• Winner: £200,000
• Runner-up: £120,000
• Semi-final: £60,000
• Quarter-final: £30,500
• Last 16: £16,000
• Last 32: £9,000
• Highest break: £17,000
• Maximum break: £147,000
• Total: £1,200,000

Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).^[8][10][11]

First round Best of 19 frames

Second round Best of 25 frames

Quarter-finals Best of 25 frames

Semi-finals Best of 31 frames

Final Best of 35 frames

20 April

Stephen Hendry (1)

10

26 & 27 April

Jason Ferguson

8

Stephen Hendry (1)

13

21 & 22 April

Gary Wilkinson

7

David Roe (16)

9

30 April & 1 May

Gary Wilkinson

10

Stephen Hendry (1)

13

23 April

Darren Morgan (8)

5

Ken Doherty (9)

10

28 & 29 April

Nick Terry

5

Ken Doherty (9)

5

24 April

Darren Morgan (8)

13

Darren Morgan (8)

10

2, 3 & 4 May

Drew Henry

8

Stephen Hendry (1)

16

24 & 25 April

Nigel Bond (12)

7

James Wattana (5)

10

27, 28 & 29 April

Jimmy Michie

8

James Wattana (5)

4

22 & 23 April

Nigel Bond (12)

13

Nigel Bond (12)

10

30 April & 1 May

Anthony Hamilton

9

Nigel Bond (12)

13

20 & 21 April

Dave Harold (13)

7

Dave Harold (13)

10

25, 26 & 27 April

Neal Foulds

4

Dave Harold (13)

13

21 & 22 April

Rod Lawler

6

John Parrott (4)

6

5 & 6 May

Rod Lawler

10

Stephen Hendry (1)

18

20 & 21 April

Peter Ebdon (10)

12

Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)

10

25 & 26 April

Alain Robidoux

3

Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)

13

20 & 21 April

Tony Drago (14)

4

Tony Drago (14)

10

30 April & 1 May

Steve James

2

Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)

13

23 & 24 April

John Higgins (11)

12

John Higgins (11)

10

27, 28 & 29 April

Martin Clark

5

John Higgins (11)

13

22 & 23 April

Alan McManus (6)

5

Alan McManus (6)

10

2, 3 & 4 May

Mick Price

5

Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)

14

24 & 25 April

Peter Ebdon (10)

16

Jimmy White (7)

10

28 & 29 April

Euan Henderson

9

Jimmy White (7)

12

20 & 21 April

Peter Ebdon (10)

13

Peter Ebdon (10)

10

30 April & 1 May

Dene O'Kane

1

Peter Ebdon (10)

13

23 & 24 April

Steve Davis (2)

10

Terry Griffiths (15)

10

26 & 27 April

Jamie Burnett

9

Terry Griffiths (15)

8

22 April

Steve Davis (2)

13

Steve Davis (2)

10

Willie Thorne

8

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 5 May & 6 May 1996. Referee: John Williams[12]
Stephen Hendry (1)  Scotland	18–12	Peter Ebdon (10)  England
2–121, 75–42, 34–78, 34–61, 65–51, 18–57, 103–4, 74–39, 60–58, 125–0, 22–81, 70–31, 70–77, 134–0, 74–0, 82–0, 85–14, 1–75, 86–21, 83–23, 34–89, 0–77, 60–66, 96–0, 54–27, 78–23, 77–25, 1–71, 39–83, 73–16	Century breaks: 1 (Hendry 1) Highest break by Hendry: 125 Highest break by Ebdon: 79	2–121, 75–42, 34–78, 34–61, 65–51, 18–57, 103–4, 74–39, 60–58, 125–0, 22–81, 70–31, 70–77, 134–0, 74–0, 82–0, 85–14, 1–75, 86–21, 83–23, 34–89, 0–77, 60–66, 96–0, 54–27, 78–23, 77–25, 1–71, 39–83, 73–16
Stephen Hendry wins the 1996 Embassy World Snooker Championship

There were 48 century breaks in the 1996 World Snooker Championship, a new record which would last until 1998.^[8] The highest break of the tournament was 144 made by both Peter Ebdon and Tony Drago.^[13] Stephen Hendry made 11 century breaks in the tournament,^[8] one short of his record of 12 set the previous year.^[14]