China’s Snooker Ass Zhao Xintong wrote history with the first world championship title in his career. The 28 -year -old prevailed in the fourth and last session of the World Cup in Sheffield/Great Britain with 18:12 against the three -time champion of Mark Williams from Wales (50) and thus crowned the first Asian title holder of history – but he was still wiggling.
Only a frame had to win Zhao, who went to the final with a 17: 8 lead, on Monday evening. The last session in the Crucible Theater by Sheffield initially developed into a disaster for Zhao. The first frame decided Williams, Champion of 2000, 2003 and 2018, via a century break. After that, the Welsh kept the upper hand and played driven by the audience into a real frenzy. In the fifth frame of the session, Zhao then thought of his strength.
In the duel of the generations, Zhao had set the course towards the title triumph early. Already on the first final day he worked out a clear 11: 6 lead, even in the third session on Monday morning he won six rounds and narrowly missed an early decision.
The Chinese had already convinced with strong performances over the entire tournament and hardly showed nerves – he had started as an amateur and only had to fight into the main field with four qualification rounds. In the semifinals, he then dismantled the seven -time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan with 17: 7.
With the title win, Zhao has now reached the height of his career. This did not seem to be seen for a long time: Zhao had been blocked for 20 months in 2023 for participating in illegal results, and many other top Chinese players were also affected by the match-fixing scandal. The Chinese Snooker Sports-with the World Cup title Zhao now leads his home country into a new era.