Zhao Xintong won the 2025 World Snooker Championship with a dominant 18-12 final victory over Mark Williams in Sheffield on Monday.
The 28 year-old becomes the first player from China to win snooker’s premier prize at the Crucible Theatre.
Zhao, who collects a top prize worth £500,000, additionally becomes the first player under amateur status to go all the way to victory in a World Snooker Championship.
The former UK champion entered the competition in the very first qualifying round at the English Institute of Sport last month.
He compiled a dozen century breaks as he fought his way through four preliminary rounds in fantastic fashion to qualify for the Crucible for the third time in his career.
In the final round of the qualifiers known as Judgement Day, Zhao edged Elliot Slessor 10-8 in a high-quality affair during which both players made a hat-trick of tons.
Ironically, that probably represented his sternest test throughout the entire event.
Zhao duly thumped last year’s World Snooker Championship runner-up Jak Jones in the first round at the venue stages to announce himself as a serious contender for glory.
Despite then rarely hitting peak form, subsequent defeats of Lei Peifan and Chris Wakelin took him through to the single table set up for the first time.
Against Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-finals, he came up against the game’s greatest and a record seven-time former champion of the modern era.
But there was a changing of the guard of sorts when Zhao – helped by an inspired second session where he won all eight frames – thrashed a confidence-lacking O’Sullivan 17-7 with a session to spare.
Another fabled Class of 1992 member represented a fitting concluding challenge to overcome.
Three-time champion Williams had entered the 2025 edition of the World Snooker Championship playing down his chances of success amid ailing eyesight concerns.
Emerging from tight tussles with Wu Yize and Hossein Vafaei gave him much-needed confidence that was boosted further with a dramatic 13-12 defeat of John Higgins in the quarter-finals.
There was even better to come as Williams overturned a 7-3 deficit to upset world number one Judd Trump 17-14 in the semi-finals.
All of those close encounters seemed to finally take their toll in the final, though, with the Welshman unable to reproduce his best when it ultimately mattered the most.
Zhao settled quickly and made rapid contributions of 51, 77, and 100 to establish an early cushion in a first session where he forged a comprehensive 7-1 advantage.
Williams, the oldest Crucible finalist aged 50, performed better in the second session and managed to just about stay in touch, reducing the gap by one but still trailing 11-6 overnight.
Hopes for his fans of a fight back were quickly quashed during the third session, which Zhao won 6-2 despite playing nowhere near his best standard.
Williams was handed plenty of chances to reduce his arrears, but one mistake after another gifted the impetus back to his less-experienced challenger.
When the duo returned for the fourth and final session, Zhao required just one more frame to be crowned the champion.
Buoyed by a vociferous reception, Williams delayed the celebration ceremony with a fantastic four-frame winning burst where he finally demonstrated his A-game.
But it was a case of too little, too late for the sixth seed, with Zhao getting two bites of the cherry in the 30th frame to get over the winning line.
In doing so, he joined Terry Griffiths and Shaun Murphy as the only qualifiers to go all the way to glory in Sheffield.
Xi’an-born Zhao Xintong was being hyped as a potential world snooker champion from a very early age.
As a teenager, he twice finished runner-up at the IBSF World Amateur Championship, with the second run in 2015 providing him with his first professional tour card.
Despite boasting a wealth of natural talent, positive results on the main tour proved difficult to come by during his first few years on the circuit.
Indeed, Zhao only had a few quarter-final runs and one semi-final appearance to his name by the time he entered the UK Championship in 2021.
But the Cyclone whipped up a frenzy in York that year, storming his way to a maiden ranking triumph with victory over Luca Brecel at the Barbican Centre.
A couple of months later, Zhao was a two-time ranking event winner after whitewashing countryman Yan Bingtao in the 2022 German Masters final.
These results helped him to reach a ranking high of number six in the world, but both he and Yan subsequently became embroiled in the seismic Chinese betting scandal that rocked the sport.
Zhao was deemed not to have partaken in match fixing like his friend and practice partner, but he was found guilty of being a party to those fixing matches and for betting on snooker – resulting in a 20-month ban.
Returning in September last year, he completely lit up the amateur Q Tour circuit where he won four events on the spin while compiling a brace of maximum breaks.
Those performances guaranteed his immediate return as a professional player from the beginning of next season in addition to receiving an invitation to participate in the 2025 World Snooker Championship.
He certainly seized the latter opportunity, at times producing incredible snooker to showcase his prodigious talent that had many comparing him to the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Jimmy White.
It is inevitable that there will continue to be a cloud over his previous failings and how he got mixed up in the sordid dealings of his cheating countrymen.
How the WPBSA and WST have stimulated his prompt comeback, despite seemingly contradicting their normal policies involving banned players, will also anger some.
Yet it is unquestionable that Zhao’s attractive attacking style of play will endear him to many new fans.
Success at the sport’s most prestigious tournament could also not come at a much better time for Chinese snooker, which faces stiff competition from rival cue sports domestically.
Zhao Xintong began the 2024/25 snooker season suspended but undoubtedly worked hard behind the scenes to ensure that his game would be ready to challenge for silverware upon his return.
Not only has he instantaneously got his career back on track, he has ended the very same campaign as snooker’s newest world champion and its most prized possession safely in his hands.
For the full 2025 World Snooker Championship draw, click here.
Featured photo credit: WST
“If only he had won it next year!” I imagine the men in suits are thinking! Congratulations to Zhao Xingtong, he can only beat what is put in front of him and his opponents once he got through to the quarter finals all failed to play well or apply pressure to him. Sadly it denied him the impetus to play his best and prove his doubters wrong having so many opponents fold like collapsible chairs. Sadly as well it makes the 2025 world championships look like they peaked at the quarter finals round and then meandered to a bit of a flat finale for the final 5 days. Still, it’s a new world champion for the sport, the third new champion in three years: a generational changing of the guard in combination with Wilson last year and Brecel the year before: not only are they all decades younger than the class of ’92 but they are much younger than Selby, Murphy, Robertson and Allen and several years the junior of Trump himself. Also two world champions from the last three have hailed from countries outside of the UK (current and former.) and the commonwealth nations. Times, they are a changing.
Finally, I can only imagine how many phone calls Barry Hearn is involved in simultaneously negotiating the biggest deal in snooker history to host the snooker world championship in the capital of the middle kingdom, whilst the hottest of focuses and widespread enthusiasm is around the sport right now.
We shouldn’t forget how absorbing the Trump/Williams semi-final was. The other two matches were anti-climatic but this definitely ranks in the higher echelons of World Championship. 2002, 2011 and 2023 remain my favourite ones.
It`s a sad day when these feral chinese shits are allowed to hold one of our moet valued prizes, fuck china.
I hope Mr Gregory Couling may live forever, so he may keep on being prosecutor, jury and judge to the world.
Zhao Xintong’s victory at the 2025 World Snooker Championship is nothing short of spectacular! His masterful control of the cue ball, precise shots, and unwavering focus throughout the tournament were truly awe – inspiring. This championship win is a testament to his exceptional talent, countless hours of hard work, and dedication to the sport. He faced tough opponents with confidence and grace, turning every challenging situation into an opportunity to showcase his skills. Zhao Xintong has not only made himself a legend in snooker but has also inspired a new generation of players. Here’s to more remarkable performances and continued success on the green baize! What a champion!