‘People take pictures of me at the airport’ – Zhao on Crucible win

Zhao Xintong’s life changed forever, and so did the sport in his native China.

In May, Zhao, 28, defeated Mark Williams 18-12 at the Crucible in Sheffield to become the sport’s all-time greatest champion, completing an incredible nine-game winning streak that stretched from the opening qualifying round all the way to the final.

After winning 6-1 over compatriot Long Zehuang on Monday in the first round of the UK Championship, Zhao said, “I’m trying to learn, but now being world champion is very different, you need to do more things.”

“I’m learning how to enjoy the table and when I win any match, I’m just very happy because there’s a lot of pressure,” he said.

I’m very busy because this is my first public appearance. Although I don’t have time to practice, I’m now trying to find the balance and improving. This is not entirely true, in my opinion!

After a rollercoaster few years that plunged him from the sport’s depths to breathtaking highs, Zhao is struggling to deal with all that has happened.

Zhao won the UK Championship title over Luca Brecel 10-5 in the final match in York to officially introduce himself to the snooker world in 2021.

However, because he was one of the ten Chinese players to be banned from the game due to the corruption scandal, his future in the sport was uncertain.

Zhao did not directly play the game; instead, he was initially given a two-and-a-half year suspension that was later reduced to a year and eight months. He accepted the accusations that he had personally cheated on matches with other players and had been a party to them.

Before his stunning Crucible run, he made his first appearance at the top-level snooker last year at the UK Championship.

Making breaks of 107, 68, 51, 59, 52, and 72 in his victory over 28-year-old UK debutant Long on that memorable May night, Zhao impressed in a Triple Crown event (World Championship, UK Championship, or Masters).

Long, who is 54th overall in the world rankings, battled through three qualifying rounds to reach York and was unable to hold back Zhao’s 6-0 defeat.

If Zhang Anda defeats England’s Gary Wilson on Monday evening (19:00 GMT), Zhao could meet another Chinese player in the last 16 and make the draw for 12 of the 32 players, which is the highest number in a Triple Crown tournament.

Zhao hopes to make another extended run to York Barbican, a place that will always be near his heart.

He said, “I have good memories here because this was my first championship; Barbican is my lucky location, so I enjoyed that today.” I’ve only just begun, and I’ve not finished, so I can improve in every way in the future.

Zhao described how his life had changed recently following his victory over Long.

When I return to China, Zhao added, “It is a significant difference.”

Zhao revealed that his family was so agitated they couldn’t watch his World Championship final, but that he is also the one who gets the nerves when he plays.

Because there was a lot of pressure, Zhao said, “When I played the final, they turned off their phone and went on a city walk.” They turned on the phone three hours later to receive the message that [he was world champion] they did not want to look at the TV.

Zhao hopes to inspire other players, just as Ding Junhui did him when he defeated Stephen Hendry in the 2005 China Open to win the tournament two days after his 18th birthday.

It’s very beneficial for Chinese players, Zhao continued, and the current standing of Chinese snooker is impressive. Everyone gains confidence and strength because I won the World Championship, and that’s what I did.

Four Chinese players were present on the two television tables for the first time in a Triple Crown tournament on Monday afternoon, bringing a piece of snooker history to the table.

Three-time UK champion Ding beat Xu Si 6-4 on table two, helped by breaks of 103, 66, 92, 109 and 64.

Before we both started struggling and messing around, I found some breaks and it didn’t seem like I was in the game for the first five or six frames.

Ding believes Zhao’s world championship will inspire more young Chinese people, putting the nation on the map for the future.

Ding remarked, “There are more young Chinese players now who are playing much better.” I’ve done a lot of snooker in China throughout my career, and Xintong has just won a championship.

“In 15 years, I don’t see many players from the UK or Europe]achieving top 16,” said one player. There are countless young people in China who are 12 or 13 years old.