The Crucible has been home to some of the most significant moments in snooker history. Minds will spring immediately to Dennis Taylor’s dramatic triumph in 1985, or one of Stephen Hendry or Ronnie O’Sullivan’s many victories on the grandest stage this sport has to offer.
But on a mild Monday evening in Sheffield and 20 years on from the door for Chinese snooker being pushed ajar, Zhao Xintong may well have just changed the way the sport is viewed, played and followed for hundreds of millions of people in Asia and across the world.
It was 2005 when Ding Junhui’s victory in the UK championship against Steve Davis gave snooker hope it could be about to usher in a wave of success from China. There are over 300,000 snooker halls in the country, where it is treated as a national sport. Over 150 million were watching this match in China. This is seriously big business.
But there was always one thing missing: a Chinese world champion. That wait is over thanks to one of the most exceptional talents the sport has ever seen. It was just 227 days ago when Zhao made his return in an empty snooker hall in Sofia on the amateur tour with a 3-0 victory over Lithuania’s Vilius Schulte-Ebbert.
Zhao was returning from a 20-month suspension for his part in the match-fixing scandal which embroiled the sport and threatened to grind Chinese snooker to a halt. It is important to point out that while 10 players were suspended for varying lengths of time, Zhao did not directly throw a match.
He did accept charges of being a party to another player fixing two games and betting on matches himself but showed remorse in admitting guilt in China and the UK, where he now resides. The reception from the Crucible crowd suggests that while doubters will remain, many are willing to give him a second chance.
“It’s very good for Chinese snooker,” Zhao said. “I’m very happy I’ve done this for them. It’s unbelievable. This is like a dream. When I shook hands with Mark [Williams] I nearly cried. My first target was just to get through the qualifiers. In the future, many Chinese players can win this.”
Williams, the beaten man, was gracious enough to admit this moment could supersede what any victory may have meant for him. “Everyone’s got to get behind him and watch him – he could dominate,” he said. “It’s bound to open some doors. It can only be good for our sport.”
Organisers were adamant Zhao, who won the UK Championship in 2021 before his suspension, had to start at the bottom. He was consigned to the Q Tour for amateurs but in truth, he made a mockery of that level, making two maximum breaks and proving near unbeatable.
Zhao has won an incredible 42 of his first 44 games since returning, including five to qualify for this world championship. He was quietly fancied by some given his undeniable ability and his sensational temperament, but few could have imagined the manner in how he would handle the biggest occasion.
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He performed with such effortless swagger throughout large periods of the final, against one of the greatest players of all time. Zhao emphatically won both afternoon sessions to move to within one frame of the title at the start of the final session but Williams was never going to go away quietly.
At 50, he is the oldest finalist in Crucible history and after winning four consecutive frames on Monday evening, a 17-8 deficit was reduced to 17-12 in a matter of minutes. But once Zhao was given one half-chance, he would not pass up on the opportunity, such has been his unflappable nature throughout the tournament.
That proved to be the case in the 30th and final frame of the match. A break of 87 executed with the fluency that has taken him through the nine matches in qualifying and the main draw proved to be more than enough, with Zhao raising a Chinese flag aloft amid the celebrations to perhaps symbolically usher in a new era for the sport.
The new champion did not have far to go with his trophy and £500,000 winner’s cheque: he lives just a 10-minute walk from the Crucible. But it is thousands of miles away where this triumph will truly be felt, and there was perhaps nobody better placed than Williams who best summed up the moment.
“He’s bashed me up, bashed Ronnie [O’Sullivan] up and bashed everyone up. There’s a new superstar of the game. I’m glad I’ll be too old when he’s dominating.” Perhaps that dominance has already begun.
