Ken Doherty: More World Titles On The Way For Zhao Xintong

Zhao Xintong made history as he became the first player from China to win the snooker World Championship with an 18-12 victory over Mark Williams in Sheffield.

Zhao, who won the UK title in 2021, is the first amateur to triumph at the Crucible. 

He also becomes only the third qualifier after Terry Griffiths and Shaun Murphy to claim snooker's biggest prize since the tournament moved to Sheffield in 1977.

Ken Doherty knows how life changing winning at The Crucible can be, and the 1997 champion gives his thoughts on this year's winner and what the future might hold for the young Chinese star.

The Real Deal

"I thought he was a breath of fresh air," he told The Panel.

"It’s just the way and manner in which he plays the game, his touch, his style, his long potting, his scoring, his calmness, even under adverse pressure. 

“I think he is the real deal. I think he could do anything he wants, as Stephen Henry said, he can dominate the game. 

“He was a little bit naive at times. He was sort of pushing the boat out and playing a lot of strange shots.

"He was desperate to get over the line but he wanted to keep to his own philosophy of trying to go for the pots, no matter how difficult they were. 

"I mean it worked well for him, but in the shorter matches, he might struggle to find consistency.

“But once he adds those facets to his game, I think he will win a lot of tournaments and possibly another couple of world titles as well.”

Xintong To Become A Superstar

Within minutes of becoming China's trailblazing world snooker champion, Zhao was draped in his country's flag as he took in the enormity of his achievement.

A massive TV audience stayed up until the early hours back in China to watch his victory, and Doherty believes it's a huge deal for the country to have their first ever World Champion.

“They reckon there were 200 or 300 million watching it in China which is quite incredible," he said.

“He's going to become a very rich young man, and good luck to him. He deserves all the plaudits, promotions and positives that come with winning the World Championship. 

"He'll be a good ambassador in the end, because in a way it's a good story about him coming back from his ban, and rising to the top after spending a two-year hiatus away from the game.

“Not from match fixing, but maybe just for naivety. And he held his hands up - after letting some of the other guys use his account to bet and stuff like that. 

"But he served his time, came back and now there’s a little bit of a story of a prodigal son.” 

Ali Can Feel Aggrieved 

Zhao received a 20-month ban in January 2023 after a match-fixing scandal that rocked the sport.

The repercussions of his suspension meant he was classed as an amateur at the World Snooker Championship and needed to get through four rounds of qualifying to reach the Crucible, a gruelling run to the title that began on April 7.

However, his victory has seen him pocket £500,000 in prize money along with a significant amount of qualification points, something which Doherty feels might rankle with some in the game.

"He's won the World Championship and he got £500,000, which equates to 500,000 points. He'll also be seeded number two for all the tournaments next year. 

"The holder of the tournament is seeded number one and the world champion is seeded number two. And then it goes world number one down on rankings for the next seeds.

"So, basically he's number two in the world, even though he's 11 in the rankings because of his points, but he'll be seeded number two for every event, which is unfortunate for players like Ali Carter, who was number 16.

"I can understand where World Snooker are coming from with the points and the prize money and everything. 

"It can be tough, but I remember when Shaun Murphy came through as a qualifier, he knocked Ian McCulloch out at 16 as well, so McCulloch couldn't play in the Masters. 

"In those days, your ranking was held for the whole year, whereas now, it's up and down throughout the year for every tournament.

"As for Ali being aggrieved, I suppose he has to ask the question, because it was in the rules and they sort of changed it. 

"I probably would feel aggrieved myself if I was number 17, but I would probably think to myself ‘look, let's get on with the next tournament. Let's get back into the top 16’. 

"I’d look at it as a positive, more than a negative."