Zhao Xintong, the Chinese snooker star once tipped by Ronnie O’Sullivan to be a young prodigy, is set to make a dramatic comeback after serving a 20-month ban for his involvement in a corruption scandal that shook the sport and impacted nine other Chinese players.
The now 27-year-old Zhao was previously held in high esteem by the Rocket, who boldly claimed he had the makings of an all-time great. His promising career, however, took a nosedive amid the controversy which resulted in a lengthy hiatus from the game.
Zhao is now poised for a return to the green baize later this year and might re-emerge on the World Championship stage come April, should he succeed in the qualifiers. Snooker legend Stephen Hendry himself has warned that Zhao is a fierce competitor no one would relish facing in the tournament.
Speaking on the Snooker Club podcast, Hendry said: “Apparently he’s in the top five with the betting for the whole thing.
“If he gets through then it’ll be really interesting to see how he does. There’s a whole load you could say that you don’t want in the first round of the World Championship.
“It’s different from the late 80s and early 90s where you could forget the first two rounds because you’d breeze through it. But there will be one or two who will be good draws. Everyone else will be tough.”
Before his suspension, Zhao clinched the 2021 UK Championship and attained the world number nine rank, positioning himself as a formidable challenger to leading stars like Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson, and even O’Sullivan. His anticipated return signals a potential shake-up at the pinnacle events in snooker.
Ronnie O’Sullivan lavished praise on Zhao following his German Masters triumph in 2022, saying: “The last time I was this excited about a player was when I saw Stephen Hendry play when I was only about nine years old, and I was thinking ‘Who is this fella?’.
“I remember watching Stephen play in some festival in Hastings and you knew he was special. And for me Zhao is the only one since that made me think he could be something special.
“He is super-good now, but could be an unplayable great if he were to brush up on certain things. And that is up to him, does he want to be open to that, and do the work.
“Because Zhao can be as good as he wants to be, he has got the game in his hands. As he develops he will handle the pressure situations even better than now.”
Hendry added on Zhao’s talent: “There are only a handful of players in the game who really stand out when you watch them play and you think, they’ve got that little stardust, that star quality.
“There’s lots of great players who make lots of centuries, but they don’t look like that, they don’t have that little bit extra. Zhao Xintong, when he plays like that, has got that. He’s got the X Factor.”
Zhao Xintong himself is keen to seize his opportunities, telling the BBC in November: “These two years have been very long for me, I’ve practised every day.
“Two years ago I made a little mistake, now I’ve come back. I know how important snooker is to me and now I just want to come back to the snooker table. I knew I would come back so I need to keep confident in myself. I believe that if I play well then I can beat anybody. I’m just going to try my best.”
A version of this article was first published on the Daily Record website