Zhao Xintong backed to become richest snooker player ever after World Championship win
'That's quite a bold statement when you think about the titles players like Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan won.'
Zhao Xintong has been tipped to ‘become the richest earning snooker player in the history of the sport’ after his World Championship victory on Monday night.
The 28-year-old beat Mark Williams 18-12 at the Crucible to become the first player from China to win the sport’s greatest tournament and the £500,000 top prize that comes with it.
The Cyclone claimed his first world title in some style, seeing off Williams pretty comfortably after doing the same to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-finals.
Snooker has long been a very popular sport in China, with Ding Junhui’s emergence onto the international stage over 20 years ago sparking a boom for the game in the country.
Ding has won almost everything in the sport, but not the world title, with Zhao now finally ending China’s wait for a world champion.
WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson believes the opportunities that he will have in front of him will be so lucrative that he can become the richest snooker player in history.
‘I think Xintong has the potential to become the richest earning snooker player in the history of the sport,’ said Ferguson. ‘That’s quite a bold statement when you think about the titles players like Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan won.
‘But the size of the market is huge and when you see the association of the brands who want to partner with snooker, it has endless potential.
‘Let’s sing the praises of this young boy, he’s an amazing talent. To see him go this far, he’s won the biggest amateur tour in the world by a mile. He then entered the qualifiers as an amateur and that’s like winning a ranking event, the number of frames he’s won. Then to go all the way in this is nothing short of a miracle.
‘This is one of the biggest occasions snooker has ever seen. We’ve seen the growth in the China market and we’ve seen the size and scale of grass-roots development underneath that. To see a world champion returning to China a national hero is really going to send the sport to another level.’
As Ferguson mentioned, Zhao was playing on the amateur circuit this season, which was as a result of his 20-month ban from the sport due to being concerned with match-fixing and betting on snooker.
10 players were banned as part of the huge match-fixing scandal, with Zhao’s offences the most minor of those found guilty, so his ban was the shortest.
Obviously his career was damaged by his wrongdoing, but Ferguson does not believe it will hold him back now he has returned and has conquered the Crucible.
‘That was a slightly darker period we went through with that but we got it into the public domain and cleaned out any problems we had,’ said Ferguson. ‘Zhao Xintong was not charged with match-fixing, he got caught up in something that involved other players.
‘It was an unfortunate situation but he’s done the right thing. He was full of remorse with what had gone on, he apologised to the nation in China, he’s apologised to us and he’s put his head down and continued to work hard.
‘You can see how welcome he is back in the sport. He’s a huge hero now and he’ll be welcomed like that in China when he goes back.’
He added: ‘This young man is extremely popular, he’s loved by the fans – and I think they were upset he got caught up in something. I wasn’t fearful of his reception. I knew the day he returned to this tour, he’d be welcomed back.’
