Zhao Xintong: The 2025 Snooker World Champion
Chinese cue master Zhao Xintong clinches the World Snooker Championship 2025 title, marking him as the inaugural Chinese World Champion.
Zhao stunned the Snooker world by bagging his maiden World Championship title, running rings around Mark Williams with an impressive 18:12 triumph.
The grand finale of the 2025 Snooker World Championship wrapped up recently, with the unexpected crowning of 28-year-old Zhao Xintong as the first-ever Chinese winner.
Zhao took charge early on and pushed Mark Williams back on his heels, leading 7:1 at one point. Despite a valiant comeback attempt from the 50-year-old veteran, he could only close the gap to 12:17 before Zhao sealed the deal with a commanding break of 87 points in the final frame.
It was an arduous path to this title for Zhao, having been slapped with a 20-month suspension due to a match-fixing scandal. He waged his way through the competition as an amateur, even going through the entire qualifying round. Over the course of the tournament, he racked up 111 frames to claim victory.
In a memorable encounter, Zhao defeated last year's runner-up Jak Jones and seven-time World Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-finals, before toppling another legend, Mark Williams. In fact, the bookies had given odds of 12.00 on Zhao before the tournament started, indicating the slippery nature of predicting his performance.
Having started the World Championship qualification as an amateur, Zhao had no official ranking status. However, with the £500,000 prize money, he is expected to find himself catapulted into the top 16 and qualify for numerous tournaments in the coming season.
Predictably, this move has stirred up some controversy. Typically, prize money earned by amateurs doesn't count towards a player's World Ranking. But as Zhao was an amateur during the World Championship, it remains unclear whether his newly-earned earnings will have an impact on his ranking. The WST has yet to comment on the matter.
Some speculate that Zhao's electrifying display at the World Championship could spark a similar turn for snooker as Luke Littler managed for darts. Indeed, many viewers were left huddled to their seats, breathless at Zhao's extraordinary skill set. With the new season about to commence as early as June, expectations are running high for the 2025/2026 snooker season, anticipating some thrilling games with Zhao potentially shaking up the tournaments.
It's worth noting that amateur players in professional snooker tournaments have been eligible for ranking points for a few years now. If they win a major event like the World Championship as amateurs, they are granted points related to that tournament, which can potentially boost their rankings dramatically.
With Zhao's exceptional performance in this year's tournament, he undoubtedly set the bar high for the new wave of snooker talent. All in all, the 2025 Snooker World Championship was an unforgettable event, packed with tension, drama, and a fresh new champion.
Enrichment Data:
- Amateur players are eligible to earn ranking points in professional snooker events like the World Championship for several years.
- If an amateur player wins a major tournament, they receive the ranking points associated with that tournament, potentially improving their rank in the official world rankings.
- This system enables amateurs to enter the professional rankings through meritorious performance, reinforcing the competitive spirit of the snooker circuit.
- Zhao's victory in the 2025 Snooker World Championship, despite starting as an amateur, might catalyze a shift in the snooker world, much like Luke Littler did for darts.
- In future professional snooker tournaments, amateurs, like Zhao, could potentially earn ranking points if they win major events, such as the World Championship.
- With the new season approaching in June, online casinos in Germany might be offering special betting odds for football matches, considering the anticipation surrounding Zhao's potential impact on the 2025/2026 snooker season.
- As a result of his impressive £500,000 win, Zhao is likely to find himself adeptly navigating upcoming tournaments, now that he has breached the top 16 ranking.
