Zhao Xintong facts for kids
Zhao at the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic
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| Born | 3 April 1997 Xi'an, Shaanxi, China |
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| Sport country |  China |
| Professional | 2016–2023, 2025– |
| Highest ranking | 6 (May 2022) |
| Current ranking | 77 (as of 8 May 2018) |
| Tournament wins | |
| Ranking | 3 |
| World Champion | 2025 |
| Zhao Xintong | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 赵心童 | ||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 趙心童 | ||||||||||||
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Zhao Xintong (Chinese: 赵心童; born 3 April 1997) is a Chinese professional snooker player who is the reigning World Champion, having won the 2025 World Snooker Championship. He is the only Asian player to win the world title. Zhao attracted attention as a teenager, with a number of top players commenting on his potential in the sport. He joined the professional World Snooker Tour in 2016 and won his first ranking title at the 2021 UK Championship, defeating Luca Brecel 10–5 in the final. With this win, he entered the top 16 in the snooker World rankings for the first time. He won his second ranking title at the 2022 German Masters where he completed a 9–0 win over Yan Bingtao in the final. He was only the third player, after Steve Davis and Neil Robertson, to win a two-session ranking final without conceding a single frame.
In January 2023, the sport's governing body suspended Zhao as part of a match-fixing investigation involving ten Chinese players. He was subsequently charged with having knowledge of match-fixing and betting operations on the World Snooker Tour, although he was not personally involved in fixing matches. Following an independent disciplinary tribunal, Zhao was banned from professional competition until 1 September 2024. Following the ban, Zhao competed on the secondary Q Tour which serves as a qualification route to the main professional tour. He won four Q Tour events in a row between October 2024 and January 2025, thereby guaranteeing the top spot on the Q Tour Europe rankings list and securing his return to professional competition for the 2025–26 season. He became the first player to make a maximum break on the Q Tour, achieving the feat twice in Events 3 and 4.
Still competing as an amateur, Zhao qualified for the main stage of the 2024 UK Championship, and later in the season for the 2025 World Snooker Championship. After winning four qualifying matches to reach the main stage, he defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan 17–7 in the semi-finals and Mark Williams 18–12 in the final to win his first world title, his second Triple Crown title, and his third ranking title. His performance at the World Championship meant that he would be upgraded from having no ranking points as a new professional player to being ranked 11th in the world for the 2025–26 season.
Career
Early life
Zhao was born in Xi'an but moved to Shenzhen with his family. He is the only child of Zhao Xiaowei and Wen Anxiao, who work in the same hospital. He began playing at age eight at tables set up outside stores near his house and convinced his parents to put a table in their house. When asked by his mother what job he would do after graduating from University, Zhao said he would "play snooker", which was the moment his parents decided to support him as a player.
Amateur career (2012–2016)
This boy was astonishingly good and better than anybody I have ever seen at that age – and that includes Ronnie O'Sullivan!
In June 2012 at the Zhangjiagang Open, Zhao defeated high-ranking players Xiao Guodong, Kevin McMahon, and Yu Delu, to reach the last 16 of the tournament where he lost 3–4 to Stephen Lee. He built on this success by reaching the second round of Asian Tour Events the Yixing Open and Zhengzhou Open.
As a wildcard entrant, he defeated former World Champion Ken Doherty in the professional event, the International Championship, to reach the last 32 of a ranking event for the first time. He narrowly lost in a deciding frame 5–6 to Matthew Stevens. Having also earned his way to the last 32 of the World Open and China Open, Zhao started to gain a reputation for being a "Wildcard Menace".
The following season, at the 2013 International Championship, he beat six-time World Champion Steve Davis 6–1. Davis later described Zhao as "astonishingly good" and compared him with a young Ronnie O'Sullivan. He reached the third round of the competition before losing 2–6 to Marco Fu. However, he defeated Fu in the first round of the 2014 Shanghai Masters. Zhao entered the World Amateur Championship in late 2013 and reached the final, however he lost to his fellow countryman Zhou Yuelong 4–8, missing out on a chance to join the main professional snooker tour for the 2014–15 season.
Zhao entered several events in an attempt to qualify for the tour for the 2015–16 season. He was narrowly defeated in the first round of the ACBS Asian Snooker Championship. He won three games in the first event of the 2015 Q School but then lost 3–4 to Alexander Ursenbacher in the penultimate round. He reached the final round of the second event before losing 3–4 to Duane Jones in a black ball finish in the deciding frame.
Zhao's high ranking in the Q School Order of Merit gave him entry as a top-up player in professional events. He completed a whitewash of Stuart Carrington 6–0 to qualify for the 2015 International Championship and, despite losing 2–6 to John Higgins in the first round, his effort of 142 was the high break of the tournament. Zhao made his first appearance at a Triple Crown event at the UK Championship, but lost in the first round. He also qualified for the German Masters and Welsh Open, but was knocked out in the opening round of each. He reached the final of the 2015 IBSF World Snooker Championship, but lost 6–8 to Pankaj Advani. However, Zhao won a two-year card for the main tour after Advani declined the invitation.
Early professional years (2016–2020)
Zhao met Ronnie O'Sullivan in the second round of the 2016 English Open. Breaks of 130, 107 and 80 gave him a 3–2 lead, but he missed chances to take the win and was defeated 3–4. 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 5–3 and John Higgins 5–1, and a 5–0 whitewash of Sunny Akani saw Zhao reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time. He held a narrow 4–3 advantage over Ali Carter but lost the last two frames. He also reached the third round of the Gibraltar Open before losing 3–4 to Mark Williams.
Zhao was not ranked high enough at the end of the 2017–18 season to retain his spot on the World Snooker Tour, so he entered 2018 Q School in a bid to win back his place. 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 4–6 to Mark Selby. He reached the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open, losing 2–5 to eventual finalist Stuart Bingham. Zhao qualified for the World Snooker Championship for the first time in 2019 but lost 7–10 to Selby in the first round.
In the 2019–20 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 have all suggested 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 4–2 in the first round and John Higgins 4–3 in the second, he was defeated 3–5 by Jack Lisowski.
UK Championship winner (2021–23)
At the 2021 UK Championship, Zhao claimed his first ranking title, as he progressed to the final, where he defeated Luca Brecel 10–5. The win elevated Zhao into the top 16 of the world rankings, at number 9. This meant he also qualified for the invitational 2022 Masters for the first time. At the Masters, he played John Higgins in the first round in a repeat of prior meetings in both the World Grand Prix and the UK Championship, however, he lost 2–6.
He also reached the final of the 2022 German Masters. He played Yan Bingtao, whom he defeated 9–0 to claim the second ranking title of his career in the space of just two months. By doing so, he became only the third player in history to whitewash a player in the final of a ranking event after Steve Davis and Neil Robertson. He won his first match in the main stages of the 2022 World Snooker Championship, as he defeated Jamie Clarke, but lost in the second round to Stephen Maguire.
Suspension from professional tour (2023–24)
Just one year after his second ranking event win, Zhao was suspended in January 2023 by the sport's governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA). This was part of a match-fixing investigation involving ten Chinese players. He was subsequently charged with being concerned in fixing matches on the World Snooker Tour and betting on snooker. Hearings by an independent disciplinary tribunal were initiated in May 2023, and on 6 June 2023 he was given a 20-month ban until 1 September 2024, but was not docked any results or prize money.
When the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association (CBSA) upheld the original ban length of 30 months, confusion was created within the media covering the sport: at the time, the WPBSA stated that players not in good standing with their local association could not rejoin the World Snooker Tour, thus suggesting that Zhao would have had to wait until at least July 2025 to begin competing in any amateur snooker tournament. The date would also have meant Zhao could not return to the professional tour until at least the start of the 2026–27 season. However, in interviews to the media in 2024, Jason Ferguson – the current chairman of the WPBSA – confirmed that the extended ban imposed by the CBSA only applied to events that were sanctioned and governed by the Chinese governing body: it did not apply to any events sanctioned and governed by any other association, including the WPBSA. This confirmation meant that Zhao would be eligible to enter the 2024–25 Q Tour after 1 September 2024, the date that his ban with the WPBSA expired, as well as any other amateur competition that was not sanctioned by the CBSA.
World Championship winner (2024–25)
After his suspension ended on 1 September 2024, Zhao competed on the amateur Q Tour in the hope of regaining professional status; his first competitive match was at Q Tour Event 2 in Sofia later that month. In October 2024, he won Q Tour Event 3 in Stockholm; in his 4–1 win over Shaun Liu in the round of 64, Zhao became the first player to make a maximum break on the Q Tour. He won Q Tour Event 4 in Manchester on 10 November, defeating Ryan Davies 4–2 in the final. On his run to the trophy, he made another maximum break in his 4–1 quarter-final win over Oliver Sykes, as well as three centuries in defeating Craig Steadman 4–1 in the semi-finals.
On 5 November 2024, 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 win in Event 3 on the Q Tour. He won four qualifying matches in the event to progress to the main stage, but he was then defeated 5–6 by Shaun Murphy in the first round.
Zhao won Q Tour Event 5 in Vienna on 15 December 2024, and Q Tour Event 6 in Mons, Belgium, on 12 January 2025, defeating Australian Ryan Thomerson 4–2 and Iran's Ehsan Heydari Nezhad 4–1 in the finals, respectively, thereby winning four straight events and 32 consecutive matches on the Q Tour. His performance in Event 6 guaranteed his place at the top of the Q Tour Europe rankings list, securing him a new two-year tour card for the 2025–26 season. Topping the Q Tour Europe rankings list also guaranteed Zhao a spot in the 2025 World Snooker Championship qualifying draw.
Zhao successfully qualified for the World Snooker Championship by winning four qualifying matches, only the third amateur-ranked player to reach the main stage of the tournament. He defeated Jak Jones, Lei Peifan and Chris Wakelin to reach the semi-finals. He then defeated seven-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan with a session to spare and Mark Williams 18–12 to win the World Championship. He became both the first Asian player and the first amateur player to win the event. As a result of winning the title, Zhao was awarded 11th place in the world snooker rankings instead of starting the new season without a ranking. Having won the World Championship, Zhao finished the season having played 49 matches since his suspension, winning 47 of them.
Performance and rankings timeline
| Tournament | 2012/ 13 |
2013/ 14 |
2014/ 15 |
2015/ 16 |
2016/ 17 |
2017/ 18 |
2018/ 19 |
2019/ 20 |
2020/ 21 |
2021/ 22 |
2022/ 23 |
2024/ 25 |
2025/ 26 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking | 72 | 59 | 29 | 26 | 6 | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ranking tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Championship League | Non-Ranking Event | 3R | RR | 3R | A | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Xi'an Grand Prix | Tournament Not Held | A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Saudi Arabia Masters | Tournament Not Held | A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| English Open | Tournament Not Held | 2R | 2R | 2R | 4R | 2R | 2R | 2R | A | |||||||||||||||||||
| British Open | Tournament Not Held | 1R | 2R | A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wuhan Open | Tournament Not Held | A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northern Ireland Open | Tournament Not Held | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 4R | LQ | LQ | A | |||||||||||||||||||
| International Championship | 1R | 3R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | Not Held | A | ||||||||||||||||||
| UK Championship | A | A | A | 1R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 3R | 2R | W | 1R | 1R | ||||||||||||||||
| Shoot Out | Non-Ranking Event | 2R | 1R | 3R | 2R | WD | 1R | WD | A | |||||||||||||||||||
| Scottish Open | MR | Not Held | 1R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 2R | LQ | 1R | A | ||||||||||||||||||
| German Masters | A | A | A | 1R | 2R | LQ | LQ | QF | LQ | W | WD | A | ||||||||||||||||
| Welsh Open | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | QF | 4R | 2R | 1R | WD | A | ||||||||||||||||
| World Open | 1R | WR | Not Held | LQ | LQ | 1R | 1R | Not Held | A | |||||||||||||||||||
| World Grand Prix | Not Held | NR | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 1R | 2R | QF | 1R | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||
| Players Championship | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | 1R | DNQ | DNQ | ||||||||||||||||
| Tour Championship | Tournament Not Held | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | QF | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| World Championship | A | A | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | 1R | A | LQ | 2R | A | W | ||||||||||||||||
| Non-ranking tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shanghai Masters | Ranking | Not Held | A | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Champion of Champions | NH | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | QF | A | ||||||||||||||||
| World Masters of Snooker | Tournament Not Held | A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | WD | A | ||||||||||||||||
| Championship League | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | WD | 2R | A | A | ||||||||||||||||
| Former ranking tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wuxi Classic | A | WR | 3R | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Goldfields Open | A | A | A | LQ | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shanghai Masters | WR | WR | 2R | A | LQ | LQ | Non-Ranking | Not Held | NR | |||||||||||||||||||
| Paul Hunter Classic | Minor-Ranking Event | 2R | 4R | A | NR | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Indian Open | NH | A | A | NH | 1R | 1R | 2R | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||
| China Open | 1R | 1R | 1R | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Riga Masters | Not Held | MR | 2R | LQ | 3R | LQ | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||
| China Championship | Tournament Not Held | NR | LQ | SF | 3R | Tournament Not Held | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| WST Pro Series | Tournament Not Held | 2R | Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turkish Masters | Tournament Not Held | 2R | Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gibraltar Open | Not Held | MR | 3R | 3R | 1R | 3R | 3R | 2R | Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||
| WST Classic | Tournament Not Held | A | NH | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| European Masters | Tournament Not Held | LQ | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | LQ | 2R | NH | |||||||||||||||||||
| Former non-ranking tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Macau Masters | Tournament Not Held | RR | Tournament Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Haining Open | Not Held | MR | A | A | A | 3R | NH | A | Not Held | |||||||||||||||||||
| Hong Kong Masters | Tournament Not Held | A | Tournament Not Held | WD | NH | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Performance Table Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LQ | 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-finals |
| SF | lost in the semi-finals | F | lost in the final | W | won the tournament |
| DNQ | did not qualify for the tournament | A | did not participate in the tournament | WD | withdrew from the tournament |
| NH / Not Held | means an event was not held. | |||
| NR / Non-Ranking Event | means an event is/was no longer a ranking event. | |||
| R / Ranking Event | means an event is/was a ranking event. | |||
| MR / Minor-Ranking Event | means an event is/was a minor-ranking event. | |||
Career finals
Ranking finals: 3 (3 titles)
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Pro-am finals: 1 (1 title)
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 1. | 2017 | Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games |  Hossein Vafaei |
4–2 |
Team finals: 2 (1 title)
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Team | Opponent in the final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 2017 | CVB Snooker Challenge |  China |
 Great Britain |
9–26 |
| Winner | 1. | 2018 | Macau Masters |  Barry Hawkins Ryan Day Zhou Yuelong |
Mark Williams Joe Perry Marco Fu Zhang Anda |
5–1 |
Amateur finals: 6 (4 titles)
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 2013 | IBSF World Snooker Championship | Zhou Yuelong |
4–8 |
| Runner-up | 2. | 2015 | IBSF World Snooker Championship (2) |  Pankaj Advani |
6–8 |
| Winner | 1. | 2024 | Q Tour Event 3 | Craig Steadman |
4–3 |
| Winner | 2. | 2024 | Q Tour Event 4 | Ryan Davies |
4–1 |
| Winner | 3. | 2024 | Q Tour Event 5 |  Ryan Thomerson |
4–2 |
| Winner | 4. | 2025 | Q Tour Event 6 | Ehsan Heydari Nezhad |
4–1 |
See also
In Spanish: Zhao Xintong para niños
