The world championship finalist Zhao Xintong plays as an amateur after a large scandal Snooker rocked

Zhao Xintong has reached the final of the World Snooker Championship for the first time after blown away the rest of the competition on the crucible.

The 28-year-old could be the first Chinese player to have ever won the world championship title when he defeated Mark Williams in the final after defeating the seven-time champions Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-finals in the semi-finals. The extraordinary achievement was carried out after he also defeated Lei Pefian and Chris Wakelin after eliminating Jak Jones in the opening round last year.

Zhao plays as an amateur in Sheffield and had not participated in a professional tournament before the start of the season since 2022. When he triumphs in the final, he will be the first amateur to win the world championship title in the Cruicble era and the youngest winner since Shaun Murphy in 2005.

Read more: BBC star John Virgo had returned the house in the middle of the addiction fight and two failed marriages

Read more: The final of Snooker Champs Champion was forced to pop a comment box window after fault

However, he is not an ordinary amateur player who won the British championship in 2021, and the German champions a year later when he was previously classified as the sixth best player in the world.

In fact, Zhao was a professional for seven years before he was involved in a huge saga that devoured snookers in early 2023.

In the top -class scandal, 10 Chinese players were charged with different match fixing, with two – Liang Wenbo and Li Hang – banned from sport from sport.

Zhao, who at that time took the ninth world – was one of the biggest names that were involved in the scandal, while 2021 Masters Champion Yan Bingtao was hit with a five -year ban, in which he only returned to sports at the end of 2027.

Zhao was found guilty of being celebrated in another player who repaired two games and rely on Snooker -Matches himself. However, since he did not fix any agreement, he received a milder prison sentence of 20 months, which had been reduced by initial 30.

He was banned by the professional competition until September and returned with the competition on the Q Tour, a qualification route to the Main World's main snooker.

After winning four events in a row on the tour, he guaranteed the top position in the Europe ranking of the competition, securing his return to the professional competition from next season.

Zhao opened through his ban at the British championship last year and said: “I made a little mistake two years ago and now I come back, so I know how important snooker is for me.

“I would like to return to the Snooker table and get trophies. These are very large lessons for me, it makes me more appreciated that snookers.

“These two years are very long for me, I keep practicing every day. I know that I come back, so I have to confidently preserve myself. If I play well, I can win everything.

“I continue and just have to come back. I know that it is very difficult, but I think it made me stronger. Later I will be stronger.”

Murphy also invited Zhao's ban and subsequent comeback and explained: “It has to be said that Zhao Xintong was at the bottom of these bans. He was never accused of cheating, he was never accused of fixing any games. He knew it and of course that is against the rules.

“I would say that it was very difficult 18 months for him. He served his time and he started again.

“He was caught, he took his punishment on his chin, admitted it immediately, paid all of his fines and since then he has done everything right,” he added. “There is an element of rehabilitation, so it is back.”