Barry Hawkins is setting his sights on another trip to the world-famous Crucible Theatre.

The Dartford cue-man will be hoping to win a place in the World Snooker Championships, which start on April 17, but must first overcome a qualifier on Monday in Sheffield.

Hawkins has already made it through to the championships four times and is still chasing a second round place, having been eliminated in the opening round each time.

For now the 30-year-old is just targeting a place at the showpiece and he is likely to face either Tony Drago or Ian McCulloch in a one-match qualifying decider.

Hawkins’ preparations were hampered after he picked up a bug in the week but he was expecting to be back practising before the weekend. Last year he just scraped through to the finals with a 10-9 victory over Welshman Daniel Wells and he’s hoping for an easier passage this time around.

"That match was tougher than I expected," he said. "I didn’t know too much about him but he played very well. It was a tough one and hopefully this year I can win more comfortably."