Zhao Xintong won the 2025 Snooker World Championships, "Golden Left Hand": Tonight belongs to him, congratulations

Zhao Xintong cashed in the match point in the final stage of the final of the 2025 World Snooker Championship in the early morning of the 6th, Beijing time, and defeated the Welsh "Golden Left Hand" and 3-time champion with a total score of 18-12Mark Williams, becoming the first in China and the first in Asia to win the World Snooker Championship, creating history.

The 28-year-old Zhao Xintong became China's first and Asia's first snooker world champion

British media said after the game that the 28-year-old Zhao Xintong passed four rounds of qualifying rounds to reach the main round of this World Championships, and then won five consecutive games to complete the World Championships, creating history for his country. For a long time, his country has been counting on Ding Junhui to pierce this layer of window paper. Instead, it was former British Championship champion Zhao Xintong who completed the mission, and his dazzling snooker style has already seen him defeat seven-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-finals, and then he will also face Williams in an extraordinary final.

Williams was thoroughly overwhelmed by Zhao Xintong in the first eight games of the first period, the former losing seven games, and then falling behind 6-11 overnight, he never looked like he was struggling to get back into this game, Zhao Xintong won the third stage with a score of 6-2, just one game away from winning the title.

Entering the fourth stage, the situation changed a little, Williams took advantage of Zhao Xintong's mistake to play a single-shot break in the first game of the night, and then went down three more cities to chase the game score to 12-17, making the ownership of the championship more suspenseful. Despite this, Zhao Xintong recovered from the halftime break and got the form he needed, and he not only made history for China by cashing in on the match point, but also became the first amateur player in the event and the third player to win the World Snooker Championship through qualifying.

Zhao Xintong's offensive power is comparable to O'Sullivan at his peak

However, Zhao's amateur state reveals an embarrassing truth that goes far beyond the sport's story, with Zhao Xintong being banned for 20 months by the World Snooker Tour for playing regular matches and betting on snooker. There has been some confusion about when he will be able to return, and in September last year, although the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association still banned him from returning, he could not even qualify for the World Championship if World Snooker did the same.

However, the World Snooker Tour (WST) will confirm that Zhao's longer ban will only apply to events run and approved by China's governing body, meaning he will be free to compete in last year's Q Tour Amateur Tour, where he won four consecutive tournaments, including a total of 32 matches, enough to secure qualification for the 2025/26 season.

Zhao Xintong's World Championships will greatly promote the promotion of snooker in China

The Q Tour Amateur Tour No. 1 finish also earned Zhao Xintong a spot in the Crucible qualifying draw, and the rest, as you can see, made history on that. Complicated and controversial, but history is still the same, as he was the first Chinese player to win the World Championship. Zhao Xintong said after the game: "I can't believe it, I'm so excited. [I] was nervous tonight, Mark is still a top player and he's putting me under a lot of pressure. He's the best. ”

When asked about the challenge of playing nine consecutive matches in this World Championships, Zhao Xintong replied: "I'm not tired! And added: "Maybe have a drink tonight." I need to say thank you to all. "I couldn't believe it. That's why maybe I thought I had a dream, maybe it wasn't real. ”

Williams welcomed the arrival of the "new superstar of the game" as Zhao Xintong performed well in the final. Williams was also impressive at the World Championships, beating John Higgins in the tiebreaker before knocking out favourites and world number one Trump in the semi-finals.

The 50-year-old "Golden Left Hand" once chased four games in a row in the final, and his performance deserves the respect of fans

"I thought it was a good game for me," Williams recalled. "The support I've received from the audience over the past two weeks has been incredible. However, it was really bad for him (Zhao Xintong) to stand there. When he dominated the game, I was happy to feel that I was too old. "I have nothing but admiration for what he has done, he passed the qualifying round (qualifying), he hasn't played for two years, he beat Ronnie (O'Sullivan), he beat me, he beat everybody. What can you say, this game gave birth to a new superstar and he's over there. Tonight belongs to him, congratulations. ”