Trailblazer Zhao set to take snooker to ‘another level’ in China

Within minutes of becoming China’s trailblazing world snooker champion, Zhao Xintong was draped in his country’s flag as he started to take in the enormity of his achievement.

Zhao defeated three-time winner Mark Williams 18-12 on Monday to become the first Asian player and amateur to triumph at the Crucible.

Williams called the 28-year-old a “superstar”, and Jason Ferguson – chairman of the sport’s governing body – said Zhao was set to take snooker “to another level”.

“We are talking about a national hero – he has entered the history books of this sport and in China he will probably be one of the biggest stars there, ” Ferguson, chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), told BBC Sport.

“Snooker is so big in China. He is young, talented and entertaining and speaks both English and Mandarin. This is going to take snooker to another level.

“China loves its heroes and winners. Some countries back underdogs but in China they really celebrate their champions. He has the ability to become the most popular sporting star in the country.”

The 28-year-old also became only the third qualifier after Terry Griffiths and Shaun Murphy to capture snooker’s biggest prize since the tournament moved to Sheffield in 1977.

His achievement is all the more extraordinary given he only returned from a 20-month suspension earlier this season after being one of 10 players from China sanctioned in a match-fixing scandal.

However, he carried over the scintillating form he has shown all season on the amateur Q Tour and remarkably became the first player to come through four qualifying matches and then lift the trophy at snooker’s most famous venue.

After the final Williams said: “I’m glad I’ll be too old when he’s dominating the game. I’ve got nothing but admiration for what he’s done, coming through the qualifiers. He hasn’t played for two years, bashed everybody up. There’s a new superstar of the game.”

“It could be huge for the sport. It could open floodgates everywhere. He could dominate or at least give [Judd] Trump or Kyren [Wilson] a run for their money. With the Luke Littler thing in darts. This is what snooker needed, someone like him coming through.

“It is bound to open doors. It will be front page on every news outlet going.”

Zhao’s success completes a double for the country, which has more than 300,000 snooker clubs for its population of 1.4 billion.

Bai Yulu was the first Chinese winner of the women’s world championship in 2024 and will defend her title in her homeland this month.

May Zhao, who is in Sheffield to report for the International Sport Press Association, added: “Zhao’s victory is not only a personal triumph but also a historic breakthrough for Chinese snooker.

“I think he will be given a huge reception when he returns to the country and this win is sure to inspire the younger generation in China and drive the development of the country’s training system and structure.

While a record 10 Chinese players qualified for the televised stage of the World Championship this year, prior to the start of the tournament only four, Ding Junhui (sixth), Zhang Anda (11th), Xiao Guodong (12th) and Si Jiahui (14th) sat inside the game’s elite top 16.

It should also be noted that the top five players in the world are all British, and that world number one Judd Trump and 13th-ranked Shaun Murphy won the two other Triple Crown events – the UK Championship and the Masters.

Indeed, Trump and 2024 world champion Kyren Wilson won seven major finals between them this season, while until Monday evening Chinese success has been limited to two events on home soil and Lei Peifan’s win in the Scottish Open.

Yet Zhao’s achievement, which will parachute him in at number 11 in the world rankings, feels like a seismic and long-awaited moment for the sport.

“I can’t believe I could become world champion in such a short time [after the ban] so I am so proud of myself.

“It was nearly two years playing no competition so my first target was to qualify. Now this will give them [children in China] power and in the future many Chinese players can do this,” he said while conducting his post-match interviews.

Snooker has appeared ready to embrace an Asian champion ever since a shy Ding Junhui defeated seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry to win the 2005 China Open, two days after his 18th birthday.

That contest was watched by a reported television audience of 110 million in the country and since then, Ding, who lost the 2016 world final 18-14 to Mark Selby, has long been the flagbearer for Chinese snooker in a period when its popularity has exploded.

John Parrott, who won the world title at the Crucible in 1991, said: “We have been talking about it for years and years.

Zhao’s success is also a fillip for those who expect the game to be dominated by players from the Far East over the coming years, especially given the ‘Class of 92’ of O’Sullivan, Williams and John Higgins, have reached or are close to, their 50th birthdays.

While there is not a formal national curriculum dedicated specifically to snooker in China, the WPBSA is aware of the game being integrated into the school system through academies.

“I’ve seen first-hand children coming into the building at 09:00 handing in their phones and then spending hours playing snooker, alongside traditional lessons,” said Matt Huart, the WPBSA head of communications.

The World Championship final was available to every TV household in China on CCTV5 and World Snooker expected a potential audience of up to 150 million.

China is also snooker’s biggest market in the television landscape, making up more than 50% of its global audience.

“A lot of people have spoken about the volume of Chinese players in the later stages but if you turn the clock back 10 years this Tour was predominantly players from England and the other home nations,” added Ferguson.

“The tide has turned a little bit but you have to remember we are putting events on in cities over there that are half the size of the UK. It is a volume issue around clubs and participation. That means more stars are going to come through.

“Snooker is in schools, it is a mainstream sport. It is something we have to fight in this country [the UK] because you don’t see snooker in schools, but you can do athletics, rugby, football and all the other sports.