Zhao Xintong ‘will be richest player ever’ — as game slumps in Britain

Zhao Xintong is sitting quietly upstairs in the snooker academy of his manager, Victoria Shi, in Sheffield’s city centre.Downstairs a few daytime potters have responded to the unprepossessing sign, printed out on a piece of A4 paper and stuck to a nondescript glass door, that reads: “Knock Here For Snooker”.

Above one of the tables a sign on the wall says: “Ronnie O’Sullivan is God”. Ronnie may be about to have some company on his celestial cloud, courtesy of the Chinese game-changer who, according to influential voices in the sport, is destined to eclipse him as the richest player in history and be the trigger for a red wave from China which is about to break over snooker.

Zhao looks surprisingly perky considering he has had only three hours’ sleep. That is the invigorating power of becoming a world champion, perhaps.After a restless, adrenaline-interrupted nap Zhao has already been back to the Crucible — the scene of his historic final victory over Mark Williams — to sign autographs for 300 or so Chinese fans. His phone is unplayable, deluged with congratulatory messages.

“I can feel that my life is about to change,” he reflects. “It changed a little after I won the UK Championship [in 2021] but I think this is very different because the World Championship is the most important one. No Asian person has done this before. It’s a huge moment for my career.”

How he won the world title, coming off the back of his 20-month ban after he was caught up on the periphery of the Chinese match-fixing scandal, confounds him even now.

“It was a very hard time but I kept practising four times a week so that when I came back I would be a better player,” he says. “I think, when I did, mentally I was much stronger than before. I’m definitely stronger than two years ago. It has been helpful for my career.”

Shi, his tough-love adviser, provided some of the support during those dark times.“I told him, ‘You didn’t kill anyone, you didn’t lose your arms and legs. You made the biggest mistake of your life, so learn from it and it will make you a stronger person. Benefit,’ ” she says.

Zhao had worried how he would be regarded by the snooker public on his return after his transgressions but even though most of the love was for the veteran Williams in the final, the sheer artistic joy of the 28-year-old’s snooker, likened to that of Jimmy White, ensured there was a warm reception for him too.“

I could feel it and I am very happy for that,” he says. “I’m proud of myself and I think I have given power and confidence to Chinese people that they can do this.”

On Wednesday he leaves his Sheffield flat where he spends half the year and flies back with the trophy to the family home in Shenzhen. He has no clear idea of what sort of reception awaits him there but in a country of 300,000 snooker clubs, some of whom were offering free beer on Tuesday in celebration of Zhao’s achievement, he has been thinking about what disguise he might wear if he goes out. He is suddenly a very big deal.

I think Xintong has the potential to become the richest-earning snooker player in the history of the sport,” Jason Ferguson, the chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, said.“

“That’s quite a bold statement when you think about the titles players like Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan won. But the size of the market is huge and when you see the association of the brands who want to partner with snooker, it has endless potential.”

Zhao smiled when told this could be his fate.“ I’ve never thought about that. Seriously, I just want to keep going and win the snooker trophies. It’s more important,” he says.

His back story is not one of financial hardship. He comes from a professional family — his father is a doctor, his mother a nurse — who bought him a full-size snooker table he could barely see over when he was ten. By the time he was 13 he had left school to play full-time on it: ten hours per day, seven days a week.

“No days off,” he says. “But that was what other Chinese players were doing at that age so that is what I needed to do.”

As Shi notes: “Chinese people work hard.” Combine that work ethic with the hop-on-board invitation provided by Zhao’s triumph and the direction of travel set by the presence of 13 Chinese players in the world’s top 50, seven of them under the age of 25, and their success will surely only accelerate.“

I’m sure the next generation will be inspired by him because he plays such good snooker and looks so good,” Shi says. “There will be many more Chinese champions in future because of this. Too many.”

While the Class of ’92 are hanging on, there is an alarming absence of UK snooker players coming through to meet the challenge. When the world No1 Judd Trump was asked in Sheffield why, he was blunt in his response.

“I just think kids from the UK don’t want to work as hard. It is as simple as that,” he said. “I just don’t think they want it as badly as some of the players over there. A lot of kids nowadays probably, their lifestyle is too luxurious. They want all the latest gadgets and trainers and are not willing to lock themselves in a room for five or six hours a day, which many of the Chinese players do. They are hungrier than them.”

If China is snooker’s future, the future is already here.