Zhao Xintong plays like a young Jimmy White and could win the 2025 World Snooker Championship, according to 1997 world champion Ken Doherty.
The former UK champion emerged through four prelim rounds at the English Institute of Sport as one of the 16 qualifiers to seal a place at the venue stages in Sheffield.
Zhao is competing as an invited amateur on the back of his performances in this season’s feeder Q Tour, through which he will regain professional status from the start of next season.
The 28 year-old was caught up in the huge match-fixing ring that sent shock waves through the sport a couple of years ago and led to lifetime bans for Liang Wenbo and Li Hang.
Zhao was cleared of the more serious charges involving match fixing, but the momentum he had gained from claiming a brace of ranking titles and reaching as high as number six in the world rankings was lost.
The young Chinese star looked in ominous form at this month’s preliminary competition, however, and compiled 12 century breaks across the four qualifying matches that he won.
In the first round at the Crucible Theatre, Zhao has been drawn to face 16th seed Jak Jones.
A potential blockbuster second-round clash with reigning world snooker champion Kyren Wilson could subsequently materialise.
“There’s a few dark horses in there, and a couple of them would be Chinese,” Ken Doherty told Gambling.com while also referencing Wu Yize as a potential threat.
“One is Zhao Xintong, who’s won four matches. If Kyren Wilson and Zhao Xintong come through those first matches, they will play each other in the last 16.”
“That would be a good test for Kyren Wilson. Zhao would be a dark horse for me.
“When he did break the rules, he wasn’t gambling on the matches or he wasn’t throwing matches like some of the players who were banned.
“I think what happened was he might have lent his phone and those other players were using his phone to make bets or whatever.
“So he was caught up within the text messages, and he was still guilty by association.
“But he’s served his ban and took it on the chin. He’s a wonderful talent and he’s welcome back into the sport.
“I think people will love watching him play, because he’s a gifted young man.
“The way he plays the game so gracefully – he reminds me of a young Jimmy White, the way he plays. He’s that good, he’s that talented.
“He’s already won the UK championship before his ban. I think he’ll go and win another big one, and he’ll be at the top of the game very, very soon.”
Doherty, the 1997 world champion, thinks it is one of the most open editions of the World Snooker Championship ever.
But the Dubliner insisted that there is a chance that the fabled Crucible Curse could end up being broken in 2025.
“This is one of those years where you’ve got so many players that are actually playing really well coming into the tournament,” the Irishman added.
“We have a Crucible Curse, where the first-time winners have never come back to defend it.”
“The closest that we’ve got was Joe Johnson in ’87 after he beat [Steve] Davis in ’86. And myself in 1998 – we both got to the final. That was as close as anybody’s got.
“But I really think Kyren Wilson could break that Crucible Curse. The way he’s playing, his confidence, and the way he’s carried the mantle of the world champion as well as being an ambassador.
“He’s done really well this year, won four tournaments, and played beautifully. I think he’s going to be very, very difficult to stop.
“Then you’ve got John Higgins, who just won the Tour Championship in spectacular fashion.
“Mark Selby has picked up a couple of tournaments this year as well. Neil Robertson has won a couple of tournaments.
“Then you’ve got a few of the Chinese players. Ding Junhui has come back into a bit of form, Wu Yize too. Xiao Guodong has won a tournament.
“And of course, we have to mention Ronnie O’Sullivan. He doesn’t have any form this season, but of course, he has lots of form at the Crucible.
“He’s won it seven times, he’s going for eight. We don’t even know if he’s going to play yet. He’s such an enigma.
“He’s going to keep everybody guessing. The press day is tomorrow [Friday]. He probably won’t show up at that, but I’m hoping that he will play.
“You cannot discount the great Ronnie O’Sullivan either.”
On Thursday after the World Snooker Championship draw was conducted, O’Sullivan delighted fans by confirming that he would participate in the tournament.
Featured photos credit: WST
