After comeback from ban
\nChinese snooker star triumphed by 18 frames to 12 to become first amateur to win the world title
\nBeijing
\nZhao Xintong became the first Chinese player to win the World Snooker Championship with a victory over Welshman and three-times winner Mark Williams at the Crucible Theatre on Monday, the latest chapter in Zhao\u2019s remarkable rise and fall story.
\nThe 28-year-old won by 18 frames to 12 to become the first amateur to win the world title, despite a spirited comeback attempt from Williams.
\n\u201cI can\u2019t believe what I\u2019ve done. It\u2019s very exciting,\u201d said Zhao, draped in a Chinese flag. \u201cI was so nervous tonight. Mark is still a top player and put me under so much pressure. He\u2019s the best.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a very special moment for me, for Chinese snooker, for everyone.\u201d
\nZhao received a 20-month ban in January 2023 after a match-fixing scandal that rocked the sport, the repercussions of which meant he was classed as an amateur at this event and needed to get through four rounds of qualifying to reach the Crucible \u2014 a gruelling run to the title that began on April 7.
\nThe Chinese player, who lives just a 10-minute walk from the Crucible venue, took an 11-6 overnight lead into Monday\u2019s third session.
\nWhile Zhao looked completely unflappable and kept smiling throughout the afternoon session, Williams struggled for accuracy and appeared powerless to stop his opponent from taking a seemingly unassailable 17-8 lead, meaning Zhao needed to win just one frame in the evening final to claim the world title.
\nBut a free-wheeling Williams made things interesting by winning the evening\u2019s first four frames with a flurry of excellent shots before the younger player answered in the fifth to secure victory.
\nThe final was already historic no matter the result, as the 50-year-old Williams became the oldest player to reach the final with his semi-final win over world number one Judd Trump.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s been a brilliant tournament for me,\u201d said Williams, momentarily fighting back tears. \u201cThe support I\u2019ve had for the past two weeks has been unbelievable.
\n\u201cBut what a potter Zhao is. I\u2019m glad I\u2019ll be too old when he\u2019s dominating the game. I\u2019ve got nothing but admiration for what he\u2019s done, coming through the qualifiers. He hasn\u2019t played for two years, bashed everybody up. There\u2019s a new superstar of the game.\u201d
\nZhao had swept aside seven-time winner Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan in the semi-finals to set up what was billed as the coronation of a new snooker king.
\nThe Chinese player, nicknamed \u201cthe Cyclone\u201d, raced out to an early 7-1 advantage in the best-of-35-frame contest but Williams staged a mini-revival in Sunday\u2019s second session to keep alive his hopes of a fourth title.
\nNo player, however, had overcome such a large overnight deficit since the tournament moved to the Crucible in 1977.
\nZhao joined Terry Griffiths and Shaun Murphy as the only qualifiers to capture snooker\u2019s most prestigious trophy.
\nHe banked a cheque for 500,000 pounds ($664,000.00) with Monday\u2019s victory, while Williams won 200,000 ($265,000) and climbed to number three in the world ranking.
\nWilliams has been struggling with vision problems and playing without glasses or contact lenses while he awaits lens replacement surgery in June.
\n\u201cI\u2019m still playing quite good stuff, even though my eyesight is a bit blurry,\u201d said Williams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After comeback from ban Chinese snooker star triumphed by 18 frames to 12 to become first amateur to win the world title Beijing Zhao Xintong became the first Chinese player to win the World Snooker Championship with a victory over Welshman and three-times winner Mark Williams at the Crucible Theatre on Monday, the latest chapter …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":80734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80735,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80715\/revisions\/80735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}