SHEFFIELD (England), April 23: Former champion Ken Doherty held off a determined challenge from Stuart Bingham to take his place in the second round of the World Snooker Championship with a 10-8 win Monday.

Doherty, who won the title in 1997, trailed 5-4 at the end of the opening session. Bingham also led 6-5 and 7-6, but Doherty fought back and finished with a 105 clearance.

Bingham also had the disappointment of missing out on a maximum 147 break, worth 167,000 pounds ($241,800), when he failed to pot the pink in the fifth frame.

Ireland’s Peter Ebdon beat Michael Judge 10-4 earlier Monday.

Crowd favourite Jimmy White is just four frames away from booking his place in the second round. White has a 6-2 overnight lead in his match against Dominic Dale after being in front from the start.

World number eight Stephen Lee leads dogged Scottish qualifier Chris Small 5-4.

Seven-time World Champion Stephen Hendry insisted after his 10-4 win over Shaun Murphy earlier in the day that he has not lost his burning desire to win snooker’s top prize.

LATEST RESULTS AND SCORES:

Ken Doherty (Ireland) beat Stuart Bingham (England) 10-8; Stephen Hendry (Scotland) beat Shaun Murphy (England) 10-4; Peter Ebdon (England) beat Michael Judge (Ireland) 10-4; Stephen Lee (England leads Chris Small (Scotland) 5-4; Jimmy White (England) leads Dominic Dale (Wales) 6-2.—Reuters