Zhao Xintong

Zhao Xintong (, approximately ; born 3 April 1997) is a Chinese professional snooker player who is the current world number one. He won the 2025 World Snooker Championship, becoming the sport's first world champion from Asia. He has won a total of six ranking titles.

Zhao first turned professional in the 2016–17 season, aged 19. He won his first ranking title and first Triple Crown title at the 2021 UK Championship and also won the 2022 German Masters. In January 2023, Zhao was among a group of Chinese players suspended by the WPBSA and charged with match-fixing offences. Following an independent disciplinary tribunal, he was banned from competitive snooker for 20 months, as a result of which he lost his professional status. After his ban expired, Zhao competed on the amateur Q Tour, winning four consecutive events and finishing top of the 2024–25 Q Tour Europe rankings. Still competing as an amateur, he won four qualifying matches to reach the main stage of the 2025 World Championship. He defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan 17–7 in the semi-finals and Mark Williams 18–12 in the final, becoming the fourth qualifier to win the world title and the first player to win a ranking title while competing as an amateur.

Zhao rejoined the professional tour for the 2025–26 season. He won the non-ranking 2025 Riyadh Season Snooker Championship and further ranking titles at the 2026 World Grand Prix, the 2026 Players Championship, and the 2026 Tour Championship, making him the first player to win all three Players Series tournaments in the same season. He also became the third player to win over £1 million in a single season. Following the 2026 Wuhan Open, Zhao replaced Judd Trump as world number one, becoming the 13th player to achieve the sport's highest ranking.

Early life Born on 3 April 1997, Zhao was raised in the Songgang subdistrict of Bao'an, Shenzhen, Guangdong. and the vice president of Songgang People's Hospital as of the 2010s. Zhao's mother Wen Anxiao is a Songgang local and the head nurse of the same hospital as of the 2010s.

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. Zhao began playing at age eight on snooker tables set up outside stores near his house. 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". His parents set up a snooker table in their house when Zhao was ten years old. 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.

In June 2012, Zhao defeated Xiao Guodong, Kevin McMahon, and Yu Delu to reach the last 16 of the Zhangjiagang Open, where he lost 34 to Stephen Lee. He built on this success by reaching the second round of two Asian Tour Events: the Yixing Open and the Zhengzhou Open.

As a wildcard entrant, he defeated former world champion Ken Doherty at the professional ranking tournament, the 2012 International Championship. Having also earned his way to the last 32 of two other events, Zhao began to gain a reputation as a "Wildcard Menace".

He beat six-time world champion Steve Davis 61 at the 2013 International Championship. the following year, he defeated Fu in the first round of the 2014 Shanghai Masters. In late 2013, he entered the World Amateur Championship and reached the final, where he lost 48 to his fellow countryman Zhou Yuelong, missing the chance to join the main professional snooker tour for the 201415 season.

Zhao was narrowly defeated in the first round of the ACBS Asian Snooker Championship in April 2015. He won three matches in the first event of the 2015 Q School before losing 34 to Alexander Ursenbacher in the penultimate round. He reached the final round of the second Q School event but lost 34 to Duane Jones in a finish in the deciding frame. He completed a 60 of Stuart Carrington to qualify for the 2015 International Championship, where he lost 26 to John Higgins in the first round. Zhao made his first appearance in a Triple Crown event at the 2015 UK Championship but lost 26 to Mark Allen in the first round. He qualified for the German Masters and the Welsh Open in 2016 but was knocked out in the opening round of both events. As runner-up, Zhao received a two-year tour card for the main professional tour when Advani declined the invitation.

2016–2022: Early professional years, 2021 UK Champion

Zhao met Ronnie O'Sullivan in the second round of the 2016 English Open. Breaks of 130, 107 and 80 gave him a 32 lead, but he missed chances to take the win and was defeated 34. 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. Zhao qualified for the 2017 German Masters by beating Li Hang 53 and John Higgins 51, and a 50 whitewash of Sunny Akani saw Zhao reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time. He held a narrow 43 advantage over Ali Carter but lost the last two frames. He also reached the third round of the Gibraltar Open before losing 34 to Mark Williams. He defeated Dechawat Poomjaeng in the second event final of Q School to regain his professional status. He reached his first professional ranking semi-finals at the 2018 China Championship, where he lost 46 to Mark Selby. He progressed to the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open, losing 25 to eventual finalist Stuart Bingham. Zhao qualified for the World Snooker Championship for the first time in 2019 but lost 710 to Selby in the first round.

In the 201920 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. In December 2020, Zhao reached the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix; after beating Jamie Jones 42 in the first round and John Higgins 43 in the second, he was defeated 35 by Jack Lisowski.

Zhao claimed his first ranking title at the 2021 UK Championship, defeating Luca Brecel 105 in the final; the win elevated Zhao to ninth in the snooker world rankings. By entering the elite "top 16", he qualified for the invitational 2022 Masters for the first time, where he played John Higgins in the first round but lost the match 26.

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

2023–2024: Professional suspension and ban 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. 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."

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." The Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association (CBSA) upheld the original ban. WPBSA regulations state that players need to be in "good standing" with their national federation to compete on the World Snooker Tour. The chair of the WPBSA, Jason Ferguson, then confirmed that Zhao's ban would apply only to events sanctioned and governed by the CBSA. He was therefore eligible to enter the 202425 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.

2024–25 season: World Championship winner

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. In October, he won Q Tour Event 3 in Stockholm; He won Q Tour Event 4 in Manchester in November, defeating Ryan Davies 42 in the final. On his run to the trophy, he made another maximum break in his 41 quarter-final win over Oliver Sykes, as well as three centuries in defeating Craig Steadman 41 in the semi-finals.

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. He won four qualifying matches to progress to the main stage of the UK Championship but was then eliminated 56 by Shaun Murphy in the first round. 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 42 and Iran's Ehsan Heydari Nezhad 41 in the finals, respectively; at this stage, he had won four straight events and 32 consecutive matches on the Q Tour. He defeated Jak Jones 104, Lei Peifan 1310 and Chris Wakelin 135 to reach the semi-finals, where he beat seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 177 with a . He then defeated Mark Williams 1812 in the final to win his first world title. Zhao became the first Chinese player, the first Asian player, and the first amateur to win the World Snooker Championship. 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.

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. 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. Zhao finished the 202425 season having played 49 matches since his return to competition and winning 47 of them.

2025–26 season 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. This was the end of a winning streak for Zhao, following his first-round loss to Murphy at the UK Championship the previous year. After a run of poor form due to illness, Zhao reached his first ranking semi-final of the season at the International Championship in November 2025. He lost 6–9 to compatriot Wu Yize.

At the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship, Zhao won his first title as World Champion, defeating Neil Robertson 5–2 in the final. At the 2026 Masters, Zhao lost 5–6 in the quarter-finals to John Higgins. After making his first maximum break in professional competition during the 2026 Championship League, he won back-to-back ranking titles at the World Grand Prix, beating Zhang Anda 10–6 in the final, and the 2026 Players Championship, defeating Higgins 10–7 in the final. He became the fourth player in professional snooker history to win his first five ranking finals, following Steve Davis, Mark Williams, and Neil Robertson. Following the 2026 Players Championship, he advanced to a career high of fifth in the world rankings. Zhao reached the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Championship, but his attempts to become the first player to overcome the Crucible curse ended when he was defeated 10–13 by Murphy.

Performance and rankings timeline ^ Source: Performance Table LegendLQ 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-finalsSF Lost in the semi-finalsF Lost in the finalW Won the tournamentDNQ Did not qualify for the tournamentA Did not participate in the tournamentWD Withdrew from the tournament NH / Not Held Means the event was not heldNR / Non-Ranking Event Means the event is/was no longer a ranking eventR / Ranking Event Means the event is/was a ranking eventMR / Minor-Ranking Event Means the event is/was a minor-ranking event

Career finals Ranking finals: 7 (6 titles) + Legend World Championship (1–0) UK Championship (1–0) Other (4–1)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreWinner 1. 2021 UK Championship 10–5Winner 2. 2022 German Masters 9–0Winner 3. 2025 World Snooker Championship 18–12Winner 4.2026World Grand Prix 10–6Winner 5. 2026 Players Championship 10–7Winner 6. 2026 Tour Championship 10–3Runner-up 1. 2026 Wuhan Open 7–10

Non-ranking finals: 1 (1 title) OutcomeNo.YearChampionshipOpponent in the finalScoreWinner 1. 2025 Riyadh Season Snooker Championship 5–2

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 title) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreWinner 1. 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games 4–2

Team finals: 2 (1 title) Outcome No. Year Championship Team Opponent in the final Score Runner-up 1. 2017 CVB Snooker Challenge 9–26Winner 1. 2018 Macau Masters 5–1

Amateur finals: 6 (4 titles) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreRunner-up 1. 2013 IBSF World Snooker Championship 4–8Runner-up 2. 2015 IBSF World Snooker Championship (2) 6–8Winner 1. 2024 Q Tour Event 3 4–3Winner 2. 2024 Q Tour Event 4 4–2Winner 3. 2024 Q Tour Event 5 4–2Winner 4. 2025 Q Tour Event 6 4–1