Zhao Xintong says that parading the World Championship trophy at Manchester City was a special occasion – as he focuses on another deep run at the UK Championship.
The 28 year-old was at the Etihad Stadium last week for Man City’s home game in the Champions League against Bayer Leverkusen.
The result wasn’t in the script with Man City going down in a 2-0 loss to the visitors, but Zhao still soaked in the occasion of being a VIP at his favourite Premier League club.
“It was my first time going there and a first time for me as a guest being invited as a snooker player,” Zhao Xintong told the World Snooker Tour after reaching the second round of the UK Championship on Monday.
“I was very excited, although the result wasn’t good. But I think it was a remarkable moment in my life.”
“I used to watch the team play when I was a kid. To be able to watch a match live would already be pretty awesome.
“But to go there as an invited guest, for me it was a very happy thing. I had a relaxed interaction with some players.
“I taught them how to play some tricky shots. They don’t know much about snooker, but at the end we took a photo together and I was very happy.”
Zhao, meanwhile, produced a solid first-round performance at the Barbican Centre in York, beating fellow Chinese competitor Long Zehuang 6-1 while making breaks of 107, 72, and 68.
After a slow start to the 2025/26 season, the Crucible champ is coming into form and returned to the winners’ enclosure last month with his success in the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship.
“I felt very good about my game,” Zhao said in Chinese during his post-match interviews. “From the start, I was potting some really good long reds.”
“I started to make mistakes after the break. [But] i’s okay, because I was able to play at a good level in my first match.
“I feel like in the next matches, it will get better and better. I have greater confidence with myself now.
“I’ve been aware of how much people expect me to do well, but I try to keep a more composed mindset.
“I tell myself to just treat it as a normal tournament, go out and enjoy playing, and then give it my best shot.
“If I set the expectation too high for myself, then I’m going to feel more pressure in the matches. It would affect my game.
“I’ve been learning to deal with it – just keep learning how to handle the stress while playing and enjoy every match.”
Monday afternoon’s session marked the first time at the Triple Crown event that four Chinese players were competing against each other at the same time across both tables.
It was another sign pointing towards the ascension of Chinese snooker within the sport generally, with more and more players from the country featuring higher up the rankings list.
“It was the first time that the session was all-Chinese, but I think in the future we will see it more and more,” Zhao explained.
“The Chinese players are getting stronger and stronger, with more and more in the top 16. We will see it happen again, I’m sure.”
Ding Junhui, who was the inspiration behind multiple Chinese waves when he first emerged on the scene two decades ago to lift the first of his three UK crowns, was the winning player on the sister table.
“I was lucky to get the win today,” said world number eight Ding, who orchestrated a 6-4 victory over Xu Si to reach the last 16.
“I was struggling at the beginning, but I found my cueing again at the end. So I’m happy to win, especially today.”
Later on day three, Zhang Anda guaranteed that there would be another contender from China still in the running in the second round.
The former International Championship winner recently dropped out of the top 16 but emerged from the UK qualifiers and fought his way back from 5-3 down to beat Gary Wilson in York.
That makes six Chinese players in total who have reached the last 16 of the UK Championship so far, with two more opportunities for players to join them on Tuesday.
The remaining first-round matches on day four will see Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby entering the fray against Zhou Yuelong and Lei Peifan respectively.
Featured photo credit: WST
