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Zhao Xintong is tipped to be the sport’s new “megastar” if he becomes the first Chinese player to win the World Championship despite having been suspended from snooker for the first season following a match-fixing scandal.
The 28-year-old, who lives 10 minutes walk away from Sheffield’s Crucible venue, is one match away from becoming the only qualifier to win the tournament’s biggest prize since its 1977 relocation to South Yorkshire.
If he wins on Monday, he will become the youngest amateur winner since Murphy won in 2005 and the only amateur to do so in the Crucible era.
Zhao, who was born in Xi’an in north-central China, moved to the UK in 2016 and will compete in his third career final.
Chinese snooker player Mark Williams will face three-time champion Zhao in a championship match on Sunday.
“It’s still very far because I have one more game to play than one of the world’s best players.” No Chinese player has ever won it, according to everyone, but I’ll make an effort to enjoy it.
It was my first time playing snooker when I was eight to ten years old, and it has taken me a lot of effort to get to this point. Even though it is challenging, you must do this to become a good player. “Remove from home.”
He had previously won the German Masters in 2022 and the UK Championship in 2021, but an investigation into match-fixing led to an abrupt end to his protracted career. As a result, he was one of 10 players from China who were sanctioned in 2023.
Zhao accepted the charge of being a party to another player who had been involved in two matches and having himself-bet on matches, and he was given a 20-month ban for those offenses.
He won events in Manchester, Sweden, Austria, and Belgium on the amateur Q Tour in September, and he also qualified for the UK Championship, where he lost to Shaun Murphy in the first round.
To reach the semi-finals of the World Championship, Zhao had to advance through four qualifying rounds before defeating 2024 Crucible finalist Jak Jones, Lei Peifan, and Chris Wakelin.
Zhao, who was given the nickname “The Cyclone,” won his 46th match win in 48 games against Ronnie O’Sullivan, who is now seven-time world champion after retiring from his suspension with a session to spare in the final four.
Slate clear, or would title be tampered with?
The Chinese sports industry was hampered by the match-fixing scandal.
Following what Jason Ferguson, the chairman of the WPBSA, described as a “heartbreaking” episode that also featured former Masters champion Yan Bingtao, gives the audience an almost immediate chance of winning.
However, some in the game fear that if a long-awaited Asian world champion is crowned on Monday, the nature of that transgression will derail the celebrations.
I’ve found the flowery language since Zhao’s return somewhat inappropriate given the circumstances, said snooker journalist Nick Metcalfe, ” Zhao’s ban has been served and he is perfectly entitled to be competing again.”
When he received the title for the UK, I was in York the night the announcer yelled, “A star is born.”
This is not some brand-new snooker player, so. It occasionally feels like praise has taken the place of scrutiny, to be honest. If Zhao wins the world title at this point, I’m not sure if the timing is ideal.
Some of the headlines from outside the snooker industry may be the last thing the sport needs because it came so soon after the ban.
A first Chinese world champion would likely be a special moment for everyone involved, almost like an uncomfortable moment, but Zhao’s claim to the title this weekend will not be one of them.
Zhao has been banned for what some people would consider to be a very minor offence, according to Barry Hearn, president of Matchroom Sport, which owns most of the professional game.
He is a good player, and I consider him to be a nice young man. You slam rules against yourself. You don’t look backwards, you look forward in life if you make a mistake.
What is the new “megastar” in Snooker?
Apart from 2010 and 2023, when Australia’s Neil Robertson and Belgium’s Luca Brecel enjoyed success, there has never been a British winner at the Crucible.
Two days after his 18th birthday, Ding Junhui defeated seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry to win the 2005 China Open. Since then, the game’s popularity has grown exponentially.
The country’s hopes of a first world champion have largely restated on Ding, who finished second to Mark Selby in 2016 after that encounter, which was watched by a reportedly 110 million people in the country on television.
O’Sullivan thinks Zhao will provide the nation with a player with the talent and temperament to fulfill that dream.
It would be amazing, in my opinion. He would be a megastar, O’Sullivan said, if he did win.
He continues to be very significant in China. But if he wins the world championship, it would be incredible both for snooker and his life. He is undoubtedly capable of breaking the law.
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More than 50% of snooker’s global audience comes from China, which accounts for the majority of its global audience.
There is no denying that a Chinese player would become a national hero if they won the world championship, according to Ferguson, the WPBSA’s boss.
“I can’t tell you the media frenzy it would cause for snooker around the world,” he said. “It would be magical, historic, and a real change in the sport.
We have been talking about it for years, “says John Parrott, who won at the Crucible in 1991.”
Zhao being the final act means Zhao will have off-the-top viewing rates, despite Ding’s closeness and reputation as a true ambassador for China. Imagine for the game what it will do there.
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