Charlie Wood
Zhao Xintong becomes the first Chinese World Champion after triumphing 18-12 over Mark Williams at The Crucible.
The history-maker entered Monday night’s concluding session with a healthy 17-8 advantage, following his expert displays in the opening three sessions.
Despite crowd favourite and three-time champion Williams threatening a remarkable comeback, which boasted breaks of 101, 96, and 73, it only delayed the inevitable.
After being resigned to his seat for the opening four frames, Zhao dealt the punishing 87 break blow to seal victory and ensure his place in Snooker history.
The 28-year-old amateur said: “This is like a dream. I can’t believe it. There was big pressure and big nerves. I knew if I missed, he could come back quickly.”
“I was so nervous tonight. Mark is still a top player and put me under so much pressure. He’s the best.”
Williams, as ever, was gracious in defeat. “I’ve not got enough cue power to combat tough conditions like Zhao. His cue power is superb. Probably the best potter I’ve ever seen.”
“I’m glad I’ll be too old when he’s dominating the game. I’ve got nothing but admiration for what he’s done, coming through the qualifiers. There’s a new superstar of the game.”
With this win over the Welshman, Zhao’s remarkable 29-day journey reaches its finale
To claim his £500,000 prize money, the 2021 UK Open winner came through four qualifying matches and 111 winning frames.
His 17-7 thumping of seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-finals propelled Zhao to domestic fame – for the final, over 150 million people in China watched.
This was a long-awaited moment for China, nine years after Ding Junhui succumbed 18-14 to Mark Selby in the 2016 final.
As the new Chinese superstar shone, he reflected on his achievements for China.
“It is very good for Chinese snooker and I am very happy I have done this for them.”
“I can’t believe I could become world champion in such a short time [after the ban] so I am so proud of myself. It was nearly two years playing no competition, so my first target was to qualify.”
“Now this will give them [children in China] power and in the future many Chinese players can do this.”
His ascent to world champion may aid snooker’s bid to become an Olympic sport, with Jason Ferguson, the chair of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, hoping this success will act as a catalyst for opportunities.
Although snooker failed in its attempts to be part of Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, Ferguson said “the size of snooker and how important China is to the IOC [International Olympic Committee], someone has to look at this and say, ‘this is snooker’s time’.”
Zhao’s success becomes even more remarkable when considering his season began suspended from all snooker following a match-fixing scandal.
Despite not directly throwing a match, Zhao accepted charges of having knowledge of events and betting on matches that he played in and received a 20-month ban.
Since the ban, though, the newly crowned world champion has won 47 of his 49 matches, culminating in his historic victory.
Charlie Wood
Featured image courtesy of @dan_burton via Unsplash. Image use license found here (Unsplash). No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of @zhaoxintong via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 2 courtesy of @zhaoxintong via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 3 courtesy of @zhaoxintong via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.
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