 Zhao at the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic | ||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 3 April 1997 Xi’an, Shaanxi, China | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sport country |  China | |||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | The Cyclone[1] | |||||||||||||||||
| Professional | 2016–2023 | |||||||||||||||||
| Highest ranking | 6 (May 2022) | |||||||||||||||||
| Century breaks | 136 | |||||||||||||||||
| Tournament wins | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ranking | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Zhao Xintong (Chinese: 赵心童; born 3 April 1997) is a Chinese former professional snooker player who served a 20-month ban from the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association – the WPBSA – after committing offences relating to betting on snooker. This ban expired on 1 September 2024.
Zhao attracted attention as a teenager, with a number of top players commenting on his potential in the sport. He joined the professional tour in 2016 and won his first ranking title and first Triple Crown title at the 2021 UK Championship, defeating Luca Brecel 10–5 in the final. With this win, he entered the top 16 in the world rankings for the first time and became eligible for his first Masters.[2] He won his second ranking title at the 2022 German Masters when he whitewashed Yan Bingtao 9–0 in the final, becoming only the third player, after Steve Davis and Neil Robertson, to win a two-session ranking final without conceding a frame.[3]
In January 2023, the sport's governing body suspended Zhao as part of a match-fixing investigation involving ten Chinese players.[4] He was subsequently charged with being concerned in fixing matches on the World Snooker Tour and betting on snooker. Following an independent disciplinary tribunal, Zhao was banned from professional competition until 1 September 2024.[5]
When the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association (the 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.[6] However, in subsequent 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 is not sanctioned by the CBSA.[7][8] Zhao entered the Q Tour event in Sofia on 20 September 2024.[9]
- ^ "Zhao Xintong". World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ^ "Zhao beats Brecel to win UK Championship". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
- ^ "Zhao Xintong wraps up whitewash victory over Yan Bingtao to secure German Masters victory in Berlin". Eurosport. 30 January 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
- ^ "UK Championship winner Zhao latest to be suspended". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
- ^ "WPBSA Statement 6 June 2023". WPBSA. 6 June 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
- ^ "China's longer bans for snooker match-fixers may apply globally, WPBSA confirms". 22 June 2023.
- ^ Haigh, Phil (16 August 2024). "Jason Ferguson gives the latest on the Crucible, snooker's Olympic hopes, a Zhao Xintong return and more". Metro. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
- ^ Caulfield, David (30 August 2024). "Zhao Xintong ban is ending, so what happens next?". snookerhq.com. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
- ^ "Zhao set for comeback after match-fixing scandal". BBC Sport. 10 September 2024. Archived from the original on 10 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.