Zhao Xintong is on the cusp of the greatest moment of his snooker career.

The 28-year-old has been forced to work his way back to the top after being hit with a 20-month suspension in January 2023 following an investigation into match-fixing.

He did not directly throw a match, but he accepted charges of being a party to another player fixing two matches, and betting on matches himself.

Eight months prior, Zhao had reached his career-high ranking of sixth.

The Chinese cueist has won two ranking tournaments – the 2021 UK Championship and the 2022 German Masters.

But going all the way at the World Snooker Championship would propel his CV to a new level.

Born in Xi’an in 1997, Zhao claims to have received guidance from Ronnie O’Sullivan during his younger years.

After losing to Zhao in the semi-finals, the Rocket shared a photo of him with his arm around the Crucible finalist back when he was only a young boy.



By Fraser Watson,Jack McEachen,Charlie Gordon

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