ZHAO XINTONG could secure a World Snooker Tour Card if he scoops the £250,000 UK Championship in York.
The Chinese amateur cueist booked his place in the last 32 – he faces No.9 seed Shaun Murphy on Saturday – after beating Ricky Walden 6-2 in qualifying in Leicester.
If he wins the Triple Crown title, he will rocket up the one-year world ranking list and the top four at the end of the season are guaranteed a professional place for the 2025-26 campaign.
He is also in line for the £15k high break bonus as he knocked in a 146 in his first qualifier last weekend – unless someone celebrates a 147 maximum.
Xintong – winner of the UK title in 2021 – was one of ten Chinese players charged and banned for breaching match-fixing rules in June 2023.
He was given a 20-month suspension, which ended in September, though he did NOT fix a match himself.
Xintong, 27, called his offence a “little mistake” and added: “I missed this because I didn’t play here for two years.
“Now, I come back. I want to enjoy the tournament and do my best. It’s much different. This is more important for me.
“I like snooker. I need to come back. I will try my best in practice. I want to come back to the snooker table. I love it even more.
Xintong added: “Shaun is a very good player. He can pot a lot of balls.”
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He also insists he’s learnt from his ban.
Xintong told the BBC: “Two years ago I made a little mistake, now I’ve come back.
“Let them know this is a big lesson, don’t make the mistake. Play snooker, it’s a very good thing.
“These two years have been very long for me, I’ve practised every day.
“I knew I would come back so I need to keep confident in myself.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan, the defending champion, is also in action on Saturday afternoon at the Barbican.
The seven-time Crucible king, 48, faces 45-year-old fellow Englishman Barry Hawkins, the man he beat in the 2013 world final.
BELOW is a list of snooker World Champions by year.
The record is for the modern era, widely considered as dating from the 1968-69 season, when the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) took control of the sport.
The first World Championships ran from 1927 – with a break from 1941-45 because of World War II and 1958-63 because of a dispute in the sport.
Joe Davis (15), Fred Davis and John Pulman (both 8) were the most successful players during that period.
Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan share the record for the most titles in the modern era, with seven each.
Most World Titles (modern era)
