Zhao Xintong becomes Asia’s first world champion after match-fixing ban

Zhao Xintong of China became Asia’s first world snooker champion after beating Mark Williams 18-12 in the final yesterday [Macau time], completing a remarkable career turnaround following his involvement in the sport’s biggest match-fixing scandal.

Zhao captured the sport’s biggest prize — as well as a winner’s check of 500,000 pounds ($670,000) — at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield just months after returning to competitive action following a 20-month ban.

The fixing scandal in 2023 involved 10 Chinese players in total and left snooker under a cloud, especially in China, the sport’s biggest market in the television landscape and a country that makes up more than 50% of snooker’s global audience.

Zhao is now the pride of China, winning the world championship while playing as an amateur — he’ll return to the professional ranks next season — and having come through four rounds of qualifiers just to get to the main draw at the Crucible.

“I think I had a dream,” Zhao said. “Maybe I’m not sure this is true.”

The 50-year-old Williams was bidding to become the oldest ever world champion as well as a four-time winner, but never recovered from trailing 7-1 after the first of the final’s four sessions across Sunday and Monday.

Zhao, a fearless, attacking left-hander, showed few nerves in a match which World Snooker Tour officials estimated was being watched by a potential audience of 150-200 million live streams in China and a cumulative audience of 50-150 million on China’s CCTV5.

Even after Williams won the first four frames of the last session to go from 17-8 to 17-12, Zhao stayed composed to compile a break of 87 in what proved to be the last frame, after which he unfurled the flag of China and hung it over his shoulders to the backdrop of applause.

“There’s a new superstar in the game,” Williams said, looking at Zhao, “and he’s over there.”

When Zhao won the prestigious U.K. Championship — one of snooker’s majors — in 2021, he looked ready to join the elite of the game. Even as a teenager, he was marked out by some top players, including Williams, as a potential future star.

However, his career was brought to a shuddering halt when, as part of a sprawling match-fixing scandal that rocked snooker in 2023, he was banned after accepting charges of being a party to another player fixing two matches and betting on matches himself. Zhao was ranked No. 9 in the world at the time.

Zhao has been free to play since his suspension expired in September and, in January, secured a return to snooker’s main professional tour for next season.

Given his talent, he was seen as a dangerous wild card in world championship qualifying and he breezed through that — and then the main tournament itself, even thrashing seven-time champion Ronnie O’Sullivan 17-7 in the semifinals.

Now he has beaten another veteran — and member of snooker’s so-called “Class of 92” — in Williams, who himself had looked good in beating four-time champion John Higgins in the quarterfinals and then top-ranked Judd Trump in the semifinals.

It was only a matter of time before a Chinese player won the worlds.

A record 10 Chinese players reached the first round proper of the worlds this year and six of them made it through to the last 16. MDT/AP