Zhao Xintong

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In this Chinese name, the family name is Zhao.

Zhao Xintong
Portrait of Zhao Xintong. He is a young Chinese man with short hair, wearing a suit and holding a cue stick.
Zhao at the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic
Born (1997-04-03) 3 April 1997 (age 28)
Bao'an, Shenzhen, China
Sport country China
NicknameThe Cyclone[1]
Professional2016–2023, 2025–present
Highest ranking6 (May 2022)
Current ranking 12 (as of 27 October 2025)
Century breaks180 (as of 26 October 2025)
Tournament wins
Ranking3
World Champion2025
Medal record
Men's snooker
Representing  China
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
Gold medal – first place 2017 Ashgabat Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Ashgabat Team
Zhao Xintong
Simplified Chinese赵心童
Traditional Chinese趙心童
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhào Xīntóng
Wade–GilesChao4 Hsin1-t'ung2
IPA[ʈʂâʊ ɕín.tʰʊ̌ŋ]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationJiuh Sām Tùhng
JyutpingZiu⁶ Sam¹ Tung⁴
IPA[tsiw˨ sɐm˥ tʰʊŋ˩]

Zhao Xintong (Chinese: 赵心童; born 3 April 1997) is a Chinese professional snooker player and the reigning World Snooker Champion. He was the first Asian player to win the World Snooker Championship and the first amateur player to win a ranking event. He was stripped of his professional status in 2023 as the result of a match-fixing investigation, having won two previous ranking event titles as a professional player: the 2021 UK Championship and the 2022 German Masters. He attained his highest professional ranking of world number six in May 2022.

Zhao first turned professional in the 2016‍–‍17 season, aged 19, and made his breakthrough in the 2021‍–‍22 season. In December 2021, he won the UK Championship for his first ranking title and first Triple Crown title, breaking into the top 16 of the snooker world rankings for the first time. He won the German Masters in January 2022 with a 9‍–‍0 whitewash over Yan Bingtao, making Zhao the third player—after Steve Davis and Neil Robertson—to win a two-session ranking final without conceding any frames. In January 2023, he was suspended by the WPBSA and charged with involvement in match-fixing and betting operations on the World Snooker Tour. Following an independent disciplinary tribunal, he was banned from all snooker competitions for 20 months.

After his competitive ban expired in September 2024, Zhao competed on the amateur tour in an attempt to regain professional status. He won four consecutive Q Tour events and finished top of the 2024‍–‍25 Q Tour Europe rankings, earning a place on the professional tour for the 2025‍–‍26 season.[8] As an amateur, he qualified for the 2024 UK Championship but was eliminated in the first round. After winning four qualifying matches to reach the main stage of the 2025 World Championship, he progressed to the final where he defeated Mark Williams to win the championship, claiming his second Triple Crown title. Zhao's World Championship victory placed him 11th in the world rankings on his return to the professional tour in June 2025.

Early life

[edit]

Born on 3 April 1997, Zhao was raised in the Songgang subdistrict of Bao'an, Shenzhen, Guangdong.[9][10] His father, Zhao Xiaowei, who transferred from Xi'an to Songgang in 1995,[11] is a finger reconstruction surgeon[11][12] and the vice president of Songgang People's Hospital as of the 2010s.[13][14][15][16] Zhao's mother Wen Anxiao is a Songgang local and the head nurse of the same hospital as of the 2010s.[14][17]

Zhao's early exposure to snooker was shaped by Shenzhen, which is known for having a well-established snooker culture, as the sport spread across the British Hong Kong–Shenzhen border in the 1980s.[10][18] Zhao began playing at age eight on snooker tables set up outside stores near his house.[19] As he was not tall enough for the snooker table, he made up his height by wearing roller skates when practising at a snooker training club in Luohu, Shenzhen, partly to "look cool".[10] He could move around the table quickly on the skates and developed the habit of quick firing.[13] His parents set up a snooker table in their house when Zhao was ten years old.[10]

After graduating from Songgang No.1 Elementary School, he dropped out of Songgang Middle School in 2009 to train full time.[10] It was rare in China for the family's only child to have parental support for quitting middle school. In 2013, he trained at the newly established WPBSA-CBSA Snooker Academy in Changping, Dongguan.[18]

Career

[edit]

2012–2016: Amateur career

[edit]

This boy was astonishingly good and better than anybody I have ever seen at that age – and that includes Ronnie O'Sullivan!

Steve Davis[20]

In June 2012, Zhao defeated Xiao Guodong, Kevin McMahon, and Yu Delu to reach the last 16 of the Zhangjiagang Open, where he lost 3‍–‍4 to Stephen Lee.[21] He built on this success by reaching the second round of two Asian Tour Events: the Yixing Open and the Zhengzhou Open.[22][23]

As a wildcard entrant, he defeated former world champion Ken Doherty at the professional ranking tournament, the 2012 International Championship.[24] He then lost in a deciding frame 5‍–‍6 to Matthew Stevens in the last 32.[25] Having also earned his way to the last 32 of two other events, Zhao began to gain a reputation as a "Wildcard Menace".[26]

He beat six-time world champion Steve Davis 6‍–‍1 at the 2013 International Championship.[24] Davis later described Zhao as "astonishingly good" and compared him with a young Ronnie O'Sullivan.[27] Zhao reached the third round of the competition and was defeated 2‍–‍6 by Marco Fu;[28] the following year, he defeated Fu in the first round of the 2014 Shanghai Masters.[29] In late 2013, he entered the World Amateur Championship and reached the final, where he lost 4‍–‍8 to his fellow countryman Zhou Yuelong, missing the chance to join the main professional snooker tour for the 2014‍–‍15 season.[30]

Zhao was narrowly defeated in the first round of the ACBS Asian Snooker Championship in April 2015.[31] He won three matches in the first event of the 2015 Q School before losing 3‍–‍4 to Alexander Ursenbacher in the penultimate round. He reached the final round of the second Q School event but lost 3‍–‍4 to Duane Jones in a black ball finish in the deciding frame.[32][33] He completed a 6‍–‍0 whitewash of Stuart Carrington to qualify for the 2015 International Championship, where he lost 2‍–‍6 to John Higgins in the first round.[34] Zhao made his first appearance in a Triple Crown event at the 2015 UK Championship but lost 2‍–‍6 to Mark Allen in the first round.[35] He qualified for the German Masters and the Welsh Open in 2016 but was knocked out in the opening round of both events.[33] He reached the final of the World Amateur Championship in 2015, losing 6‍–‍8 to Pankaj Advani.[36] As runner-up, Zhao received a two-year tour card for the main professional tour when Advani declined the invitation.[37]

2016–2022: Early professional years, 2021 UK Champion

[edit]
Zhao Xintong playing a shot.
Zhao at the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic

Zhao met Ronnie O'Sullivan in the second round of the 2016 English Open. Breaks of 130, 107 and 80 gave him a 3‍–‍2 lead, but he missed chances to take the win and was defeated 3‍–‍4. O'Sullivan said afterwards that Zhao's attacking style of play had reminded him of seven-time World Champion Stephen Hendry at a similar age.[38] Zhao qualified for the 2017 German Masters by beating Li Hang 5‍–‍3 and John Higgins 5‍–‍1, and a 5‍–‍0 whitewash of Sunny Akani saw Zhao reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time. He held a narrow 4‍–‍3 advantage over Ali Carter but lost the last two frames.[39] He also reached the third round of the Gibraltar Open before losing 3‍–‍4 to Mark Williams.[33]

Zhao was not ranked high enough at the end of the 2017‍–‍18 season to retain his spot on the World Snooker Tour, so he entered 2018 Q School in a bid to win back his place.[40][41] He defeated Dechawat Poomjaeng in the second event final of Q School to regain his professional status.[42] He reached his first professional ranking semi-finals at the 2018 China Championship, where he lost 4‍–‍6 to Mark Selby.[43] He progressed to the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open, losing 2‍–‍5 to eventual finalist Stuart Bingham.[44] Zhao qualified for the World Snooker Championship for the first time in 2019 but lost 7‍–‍10 to Selby in the first round.[45]

In the 2019‍–‍20 season, Zhao reached the last 16 stage of four ranking events and the quarter-finals of the 2020 German Masters, elevating his world ranking to 29th by the end of the season. Snooker professionals Ronnie O'Sullivan, Stephen Hendry and Alan McManus all suggested at the time that Zhao could potentially become a leading player in world snooker due to his enormous potential.[46] In December 2020, Zhao reached the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix; after beating Jamie Jones 4‍–‍2 in the first round and John Higgins 4‍–‍3 in the second, he was defeated 3‍–‍5 by Jack Lisowski.[47]

Zhao claimed his first ranking title at the 2021 UK Championship, defeating Luca Brecel 10‍–‍5 in the final; the win elevated Zhao to ninth in the snooker world rankings.[48] By entering the elite "top 16", he qualified for the invitational 2022 Masters for the first time,[24][49] where he played John Higgins in the first round but lost the match 2‍–‍6.[50]

He defeated Yan Bingtao 9‍–‍0 in the final of the 2022 German Masters to claim his second ranking title.[51] Zhao became only the third player, after Steve Davis and Neil Robertson, to win a two-session ranking final by a whitewash.[52] At the 2022 World Snooker Championship, he defeated Jamie Clarke in the first round but lost in the second round to Stephen Maguire.[53]

2023–2024: Professional suspension and ban

[edit]

In January 2023, the sport's governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), suspended Zhao as part of a match-fixing investigation involving ten Chinese players.[54] On 6 June 2023, an independent disciplinary commission ruled that Zhao had not himself fixed any matches, and his involvement was limited to placing bets on behalf of another player (Yan Bingtao) on two of Yan's matches. Zhao was ruled "liable as a party to" the two match fixes in question, which both took place in March 2022: Yan vs Ricky Walden at the 2022 Welsh Open and Yan vs Oliver Lines at the 2022 Turkish Masters. The ruling stated that Zhao had "shown genuine remorse for his actions".[55]

The commission noted the circumstances contributing to Zhao's actions, pointing out that the Chinese players involved in the case lived in close proximity to one another, were "heavily reliant on each other socially and financially", and unable to return to their native China during the Covid-19 pandemic. The situation they found themselves in may have led to loneliness, boredom and isolation, as well as facing the pressure of financial difficulties leading to the onset of "ill-judged gambling and betting habits". It was also noted that the young Chinese players were "particularly susceptible to influence and manipulation from the older Chinese snooker players, who took them under their wing".[55]

Zhao was banned for 30 months and ordered to pay £7,500 in costs, but the WPBSA reduced the ban to 20 months because of Zhao's early admissions and his guilty plea.[56][57] The Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association (CBSA) upheld the original 30-month ban. WPBSA regulations state that players need to be in "good standing" with their national federation to compete on the World Snooker Tour.[58] The chair of the WPBSA, Jason Ferguson, then confirmed that Zhao's 30-month ban would apply only to events sanctioned and governed by the CBSA. He was therefore eligible to enter the 2024‍–‍25 Q Tour after 1 September 2024 (the date on which the WPBSA ban expired), as well as any other amateur competition not sanctioned by the CBSA.[59][60]

2024–25 season: World Championship winner

[edit]
Picture of Zhao during the World Championship.
Zhao in 2025

After his competitive ban had expired, Zhao joined the amateur Q Tour in the hope of regaining professional status; his first post-ban match was in September 2024 at Q Tour Event 2 in Sofia.[61] In October, he won Q Tour Event 3 in Stockholm;[2] in the final frame of his 4‍–‍1 win over Shaun Liu in the last-64, Zhao became the first player to make a maximum break on the Q Tour.[62] He won Q Tour Event 4 in Manchester in November, defeating Ryan Davies 4‍–‍2 in the final. On his run to the trophy, he made another maximum break in his 4‍–‍1 quarter-final win over Oliver Sykes, as well as three centuries in defeating Craig Steadman 4‍–‍1 in the semi-finals.[3][63]

On 5 November 2024, the WPBSA and WST announced that Zhao would be invited to play in the UK Championship (an event he had won in 2021) as a WPBSA qualifier, on account of his winning Q Tour Event 3.[64] He won four qualifying matches to progress to the main stage of the UK Championship but was then eliminated 5‍–‍6 by Shaun Murphy in the first round.[65][66][67] Zhao won Q Tour Event 5 in Vienna in December 2024 and Q Tour Event 6 in Mons, Belgium, in January 2025, defeating Australian Ryan Thomerson 4‍–‍2 and Iran's Ehsan Heydari Nezhad 4‍–‍1 in the finals, respectively; at this stage, he had won four straight events and 32 consecutive matches on the Q Tour.[4][5] His performance in Event 6 guaranteed his place at the top of the Q Tour Europe rankings list, which secured him a new two-year tour card for the 2025‍–‍26 season.[6][7] Finishing top of the Q Tour Europe rankings list also granted Zhao a spot in the qualifying draw for the 2025 World Snooker Championship.[68][5]

He won all four of his qualifying matches at the World Championship, earning himself a place in the main stage of the tournament—only the third amateur-ranked player ever to do so.[69] He defeated Jak Jones 10‍–‍4, Lei Peifan 13‍–‍10 and Chris Wakelin 13‍–‍5 to reach the semi-finals,[70] where he beat seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 17‍–‍7 with a session to spare.[71] He then defeated Mark Williams 18‍–‍12 in the final to win his first world title.[72] Zhao became the first Chinese player, the first Asian player, and the first amateur to win the World Snooker Championship.[73][74] He was the fourth player to have won the title after appearing in the qualification event; the other three qualifiers who went on to lift the world trophy were Alex Higgins in 1972, Terry Griffiths in 1979, and Murphy in 2005.[75]

As a result of winning the title, Zhao attained professional status based on ranking points attained during the season, and he entered the world snooker rankings at number 11.[76] The tour card that Zhao had previously attained by topping the Q Tour Europe rankings was awarded to Dylan Emery, who had finished in second place.[77] Zhao finished the 2024‍–‍25 season having played 49 matches since his return to competition and winning 47 of them.[78][76] He was barred from entering events in mainland China until July 2025, as his original 30-month competitive ban was upheld by the CBSA.[79]

Zhao's first tournament of the new season after winning the World Championship was the 2025 Shanghai Masters. He reached the semi-finals where he was defeated 5‍–‍10 by Kyren Wilson.[80] This was the end of a 26-match winning streak for Zhao, following his first-round loss to Murphy at the UK Championship the previous year.[80]

Performance and rankings timeline

[edit]
Tournament 2012/
13 		2013/
14 		2014/
15 		2015/
16 		2016/
17 		2017/
18 		2018/
19 		2019/
20 		2020/
21 		2021/
22 		2022/
23 		2024/
25 		2025/
26
Ranking[81][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3] 72 [nb 4] 59 29 26 6 [nb 5] 11
Ranking tournaments
Championship League Non-Ranking Event 3R RR 3R A A
Saudi Arabia Masters Tournament Not Held A 6R
Wuhan Open Tournament Not Held A 2R
English Open Tournament Not Held 2R 2R 2R 4R 2R 2R 2R A 2R
British Open Tournament Not Held 1R 2R A 2R
Xi'an Grand Prix Tournament Not Held A 1R
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 1R 2R 1R 1R 4R LQ LQ A 1R
International Championship 1R 3R 2R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R Not Held A
UK Championship A A A 1R 2R 2R 1R 3R 2R W 1R 1R
Shoot Out Non-Ranking Event 2R 1R 3R 2R WD 1R WD A
Scottish Open MR Not Held 1R 1R 3R 1R 2R LQ 1R A
German Masters A A A 1R 2R LQ LQ QF LQ W WD[nb 6] A
World Grand Prix Not Held NR DNQ DNQ DNQ 1R 2R QF 1R DNQ DNQ
Players Championship[nb 7] DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ 1R DNQ DNQ
Welsh Open A A A 1R 1R 1R QF 4R 2R 1R WD A
World Open 1R WR Not Held LQ LQ 1R 1R Not Held A
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ QF DNQ DNQ
World Championship A A A LQ LQ LQ 1R A LQ 2R A W
Non-ranking tournaments
Shanghai Masters Ranking Event A A Not Held A SF
Champion of Champions NH A A A A A A A A A QF A
Riyadh Season Championship[nb 8] Tournament Not Held A
The Masters A A A A A A A A A 1R WD[nb 9] A
Championship League A A A A A A A A WD 2R A A
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic A WR 3R Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open A A A LQ Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters WR WR 2R A LQ LQ Non-Ranking Not Held Non-Ranking
Paul Hunter Classic Minor-Ranking Event 2R 4R A NR Tournament Not Held
Indian Open NH A A NH 1R 1R 2R Tournament Not Held
China Open 1R 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Riga Masters[nb 10] Not Held Minor-Ranking 2R LQ 3R LQ Tournament Not Held
China Championship Tournament Not Held NR LQ SF 3R Tournament Not Held
WST Pro Series Tournament Not Held 2R Tournament Not Held
Turkish Masters Tournament Not Held 2R Not Held
Gibraltar Open Not Held MR 3R 3R 1R 3R 3R 2R Not Held
WST Classic Tournament Not Held A Not Held
European Masters Tournament Not Held LQ 1R 1R 2R 1R LQ 2R Not Held
Former non-ranking tournaments
Macau Masters Tournament Not Held RR Tournament Not Held
Hong Kong Masters Tournament Not Held A Tournament Not Held WD Not Held
Haining Open Not Held Minor-Ranking A A A 3R NH A A Not Held

^ Source: "Zhao Xintong (all results)". snooker.org.

Performance Table Legend
LQ Lost in the qualifying draw #R Lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin) 		QF Lost in the quarter-finals
SF Lost in the semi-finals F Lost in the final W Won the tournament
DNQ Did not qualify for the tournament A Did not participate in the tournament WD Withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Held Means the event was not held
NR / Non-Ranking Event Means the event is/was no longer a ranking event
R / Ranking Event Means the event is/was a ranking event
MR / Minor-Ranking Event Means the event is/was a minor-ranking event
  1. ^ Shows the ranking at the beginning of the season
  2. ^ a b c d He was an amateur.
  3. ^ New players do not have a ranking.
  4. ^ Players qualified through Q School start the season without ranking points.
  5. ^ He was an amateur after his ban ended on 1 September 2024.
  6. ^ Zhao initially entered the tournament through the qualifying stages played in November and had progressed to play in the televised stages in Berlin. However, before the main event started, he was suspended by the WPBSA due to a match-fixing investigation and was subsequently withdrawn from the tournament.
  7. ^ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Final (2012–13 to 2015–16).
  8. ^ The event was called the World Masters of Snooker (2023–24).
  9. ^ Zhao had initially been invited to play in the Masters but was suspended by the WPBSA the week before the tournament started due to a match-fixing investigation and was subsequently withdrawn from the tournament.
  10. ^ The event was called the Riga Open (2014–15 to 2015–16).

Career finals

[edit]

Ranking finals: 3 (3 titles)

[edit]
Legend
Legend
World Championship (1–0)
UK Championship (1–0)
Other (1–0)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2021 UK Championship  Luca Brecel (BEL) 10–5
Winner 2. 2022 German Masters  Yan Bingtao (CHN) 9–0
Winner 3. 2025 World Snooker Championship  Mark Williams (WAL) 18–12

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 title)

[edit]
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games  Hossein Vafaei (IRN) 4–2

Team finals: 2 (1 title)

[edit]
Outcome No. Year Championship Team Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2017 CVB Snooker Challenge  China  Great Britain 9–26
Winner 1. 2018 Macau Masters
5–1

Amateur finals: 6 (4 titles)

[edit]
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2013 IBSF World Snooker Championship  Zhou Yuelong (CHN) 4–8
Runner-up 2. 2015 IBSF World Snooker Championship (2)  Pankaj Advani (IND) 6–8
Winner 1. 2024 Q Tour Event 3  Craig Steadman (ENG) 4–3
Winner 2. 2024 Q Tour Event 4  Ryan Davies (ENG) 4–2
Winner 3. 2024 Q Tour Event 5  Ryan Thomerson (AUS) 4–2
Winner 4. 2025 Q Tour Event 6  Ehsan Heydari Nezhad (IRN) 4–1

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Zhao Xintong". World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Zhao Xintong Wins Q Tour Title in Sweden". WPBSA. 6 October 2024. Archived from the original on 15 December 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Zhao Completes Q Tour Double". World Snooker Tour. 11 November 2024. Archived from the original on 12 November 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Q Tour Hat-Trick For Zhao Xintong". WPBSA. 15 December 2024. Archived from the original on 15 December 2024.
  5. ^ a b c "Zhao Xintong Completes Q Tour Quartet". WPBSA. 13 January 2025. Archived from the original on 14 January 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Zhao Xintong Secures World Snooker Tour Return". WPBSA. 11 January 2025. Archived from the original on 14 January 2025.
  7. ^ a b Clifford, Flo (11 January 2025). "Zhao Xintong secures return to World Snooker tour after 20-month ban". TNT Sports UK. Archived from the original on 25 April 2025. Retrieved 4 May 2025.
  8. ^ [2][3][4][5][6][7]
  9. ^ Kane, Desmond (4 May 2025). "World Snooker Championship 2025: History beckons for Mark Williams or Zhao Xintong in era-defining Crucible final as China expects – 'Totally unique'". TNT Sports UK. Retrieved 10 May 2025.
  10. ^ a b c d e 薛永利; 刘嘉雯, eds. (6 May 2025). 13岁训练画面曝光！深圳小伙创造历史 [13-year-old training footage exposed! Shenzhen boy makes history]. ThePaper.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 7 May 2025.
  11. ^ a b 赵小伟 [Doctor Zhao Xiaowei's appointment registration]. JD Health (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 7 May 2025. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
  12. ^ Zhao Xiaowei; Wang Wei; Han Yun; Chen Feng; Hu Hongyong; Liu Guolong (2006). 皮肤软组织扩张术再造拇指 [Thumb reconstruction with skin and soft tissue expansion]. Chinese Journal of Reparative and Reconstructive Surgery (in Chinese). 20 (9): 906–908.
  13. ^ a b 盛媛媛 (7 May 2025). 赵心童母亲回应其休学打球经历：小孩喜欢，我就尊重他 [Zhao Xintong's mother responds to his experience of dropping out of school to play basketball: My child likes it, so I respect him]. Yangtse Evening Post (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 7 May 2025.
  14. ^ a b 韦星 (8 May 2025). "赵心童父母曾经的同事：赵父曾任医院副院长，但两人都退休好几年了". Hongxing Xinwen. Chengdu Business Daily. Archived from the original on 10 May 2025.
  15. ^ 松岗人民医院 (22 May 2017). 我院组织到帮扶单位进行免费义诊活动 [Our hospital organizes free medical consultation activities in supporting units]. Bao'an District Public Hospitals' Common Platform (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 7 May 2025.
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  18. ^ a b 张思琦 (6 May 2025). 赵心童夺冠刷爆多项纪录！广东为何能成为斯诺克名将摇篮？ [Zhao Xintong won the championship and broke many records! Could Guangdong become the cradle of snooker stars?]. Southern Metropolis Daily (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 7 May 2025.
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  27. ^ Davis 2015, p. 352.
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