Zhao Xintong's net assets and controversial career as he worldwide Snooker championship victory

Zhao Xintong reached the final of the 2025 World Snooker Championship after defeating Ronnie O'Sullivan at The Crucible

Zhao Xintong has impressively secured in the final of the Snooker Championship 2025 and has marked a remarkable return to sport since his time as an amateur.

The Chinese player defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan in his semi -final game against the Snooker Great in Crucible with 17: 7.

After successfully navigating four hard qualification rounds, including victories over Ka Wai Cheung and Elliot Slessor, the route from Zhao was founded back to the famous Crucible Theater. In the main event, he defeated last year's finalist Jak Jones 10: 4, triumphed about Lei Peifan and dominated Chris Wakelin with a 13: 5 victory in the quarter-finals.

Since then he has defeated the rocket and takes over the Welsh player Mark Williams in the final. A victory in Sheffield would be the perfect end of Zhao's successful comeback after a 20-month break.

In January 2023, Zhao's promising career was abruptly discontinued in sports when he was exposed to the game during a comprehensive examination. The WPBSA owed him to take part in manipulation and bets from Match from 2019 to 2022, but solved him from the activity of his own games.

Zhao Xintong returned to the Snooker racing track in September 2024 after the shortest suspension of the 10 Chinese players, who were previously disciplined, and deserved his place on the big stage of Professional Snooker with a series of victories and two maximum breaks on the Q tour.

Zhao, who thought about his time outside of sport, he told the BBC: “I made a little mistake two years ago. I know how important snooker is for me. These two years were very long for me, I practiced every day.”

Before his suspension came into force, Zhao already influenced the Snooker scene and drew attention to his impressive skills -a talent that was not unnoticed by the Snooker Ronnie O'Sullivan. In an explanation before the player championship in 2022, O'Sullivan praised the young player with commendable words and said: “The last time I was so excited, a player was a player when I saw Stephen Hendry when I was only about nine years old … Zhao has been the only one since I was thinking:” Wow, he could be something special “.

O'Sullivan pulled a parallel between Zhao's serenity on the Snooker table and the tennis legend Roger Federer, who praised his smooth playing style and states that Zhao has the potential to exceed O'Sullivan's records. “Perhaps he is the only one out there that could overthrow some of them,” said Wordsley, born in Wordsley, and praised Zhaos exceptional pot capability and the enforceable game.

O'Sullivan had repeated his admiration for Zhao for the last month and courageously predicted the trajectory of the rising star in the Snooker world and expressed his trust by saying: “I think he will be number 1, world champion in three years, he is our Lukas-Littler and he is a cool-looking guy; he has something about him. Incredible talent.”

He compared Zhao's ability with the snooker ikon Stephen Hendry and admired his goal, position, touch and power with conviction: “For me, he is the next thing for Stephen Hendry.

On the other side of the medal, Zhao O'Sullivan sees himself as an idol and described her semi -final game in the melting pot as “a dream” that becomes true. When Zhao spoke to WST after securing a place in the semi -finals, he said: “Ronnie is the greatest player ever. I saw him as a child and it's a dream to play him in a semi -finals. I just want to enjoy it and play my game.”

Zhao's performances were so remarkable that even Hendry determined him as a force that you have to count on. In his snooker club podcast, Hendry Zhaos “Stardust” and “X-Factor” praised, which underlined his outstanding skills.

“There are only a handful of players who really notice … Zhao, if he plays like this, has it,” said Hendry and repeated O'Sullivan's recognition of Zhaos title winner.