Allen out to ‘put right’ poor run of form at WorldsImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Mark Allen needs to win the World Championship to complete a career Grand SlamByRichard PetrieBBC Sport NI JournalistPublished51 minutes agoMark Allen will aim to make up for what he believes is “his worst season performance wise for a long time” by making a major impression at this year’s World Championship at the Crucible Theatre.Allen will begin his bid for a first world title with a first-round match against China’s Zhang Anda, which begins on Saturday morning and finishes on Sunday.The Northern Ireland player is a two-time semi-finalist at the tournament but has also suffered a series of early exits in Sheffield, including round-two losses in both of the past two years.Despite bemoaning his standard of play for much of the campaign, the 40-year-old won the English Open and reached the semi-final stage of four other ranking tournaments.He lost out narrowly to Jack Lisowski for the prize for the best performing player across the four Home Nations Series events.”It’s been a strange season, I won the English Open and have been in those other semi-finals, but I feel like I’ve been playing really, really poorly,” reported Allen.”It has probably been my worst season performance wise for a long time but I’ve still ground out results.”I want to play better than I have been. It’s not through lack of practice and I’ve been trying to do the right things off the table, it just hasn’t been my best year.”But I’ve got a good opportunity to put it right over these next 17 days and what a time it would be to do it.”Having previously won The Masters and the UK Championship, Allen would like to emulate the feat of his compatriot, golfer Rory McIlroy, in completing a career Grand Slam of his sport’s major events.”I’ve always followed Rory’s career. We turned pro at a very similar time and he has done wonders in the world of sport. “It would be nice to follow in his footsteps but obviously Rory is a much bigger star than I am.”Being world champion is the one thing missing from my CV. It’s a decent CV but I want to improve on it year on year. I just have to continue to work hard and hopefully the form will turn.”World Championship 2026: Schedule, seeds & BBC TV schedule
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