There will be a record number of Chinese snooker players participating at the World Snooker Championship in 2025.
Four seeds in the draw have been joined by six qualifiers who made it through the preliminary competition in Sheffield earlier this week.
In some ways, it seems fitting that the standout number has settled at ten.
Ten, of course, was the infamous number of Chinese snooker players who were embroiled in a match-fixing ring that rocked the sport only a few years ago.
Several among those, including former World Championship quarter-finalist Liang Wenbo, received lifetime bans with any legacy that they had within the game left in tatters.
The player who received the most lenient punishment was Zhao Xintong, who was deemed to be aware of what was going on and guilty of failing to report it but ultimately cleared from the more serious charges of match fixing.
Mounting his comeback this term, Zhao is arguably the player who is best primed to break the Chinese curse at the Crucible and become the country’s first-ever world snooker champion.
Let’s, then, rank each of the Chinese contenders’ chances of going all the way to glory in Sheffield in 2025.
10. Pang Junxu
All of the Chinese players in the World Snooker Championship draw are capable, so it’s difficult to rank someone as the least likely to win it.
But being forced to choose, it’s probably right that Pang Junxu should bring up the rear on this list.
The 25 year-old has qualified for the third successive year but is still in search of his first win at the Crucible, although he’ll probably be quietly content with drawing countryman Zhang Anda in the opening round.
9. Fan Zhengyi
Fan Zhengyi pips Pang on this list simply off the fact that he is a proven ranking event winner.
The 24 year-old, who will be making his second Crucible appearance, memorably beat Ronnie O’Sullivan to land the European Masters title in 2022.
In Sheffield, Fan has oddly drawn the very same player who he faced on his debut, and he may fancy his chances of enacting revenge against a version of Mark Allen that isn’t in peak form.
8. Zhou Yuelong
Zhou Yuelong has endured a difficult 2024/25 campaign, but that could be rectified through a strong showing in Sheffield.
Now one of the most experienced Chinese competitors on the circuit, the 27 year-old possesses pedigree as a three-time ranking event runner-up.
Not in Zhou’s favour is an awful draw, with the former World Cup winner set to face world number one Judd Trump in round one.
7. Lei Peifan
Lei Peifan will have the first crack at extending the Curse of the Crucible when he challenges reigning champion Kyren Wilson in the first round on Saturday.
The 21 year-old, making his debut in 2025, may have less experience overall compared to Pang, Fan, and Zhou.
But Lei has proven already this season precisely what he’s capable of, sealing a shock Scottish Open success in December.
6. Zhang Anda
Zhang Anda is a seeded player for the second time in a row, but he is coming off a much quieter campaign compared to his breakthrough 2023/24 term.
The 33 year-old clearly has more big-match experience compared to some of the other Chinese snooker players in the World Championship draw.
Yet even with his loftier ranking position, it’s hard to rate him much higher on this list – especially as he remains winless from four prior Crucible visits.
5. Si Jiahui
It was a bit of a toss-up between Si Jiahui and Wu Yize for fourth and fifth, but going against Si is an awful run of form in 2025 so far.
The 2023 World Championship semi-finalist looked sharp in the first half of the campaign and reached the final of the Wuhan Open.
His form in recent months, though, has been terrible, and the 22 year-old will be attempting to snap a six-match losing streak when he plays a tough qualifier in David Gilbert.
4. Wu Yize
Wu Yize survived a dramatic Judgement Day clash with Matthew Stevens to seal his return to the Crucible for the second time.
Still somewhat of a raw talent at the age of 21, Wu demonstrated his potential by reaching the finals of both the English and Scottish Opens this season.
Getting Mark Williams in the first round was arguably the kindest draw he could have received given the Welshman’s serious eyesight concerns, and if Wu gets on a roll he could be a danger man.
3. Xiao Guodong
Twelve months ago, nobody would have been talking about Xiao Guodong being a potential World Championship challenger.
What a difference a year and a ranking title makes, as the 36 year-old now very much plays like he belongs among the elite of the game.
The Wuhan Open champion and Champion of Champions runner-up, making just a fourth Crucible appearance, faces Matthew Selt in round one.
2. Ding Junhui
Is it ever going to happen for Ding Junhui in Sheffield? In 2025, the most popular Chinese snooker player of all-time will be back for a 19th attempt to win that elusive world crown.
Ding, this season’s International Championship winner, has come close at the Crucible before – notably in 2016 when he went all the way to the final as a qualifier only to be stopped by Mark Selby.
The 38 year-old hasn’t reached the quarter-finals since 2018, however, and in-form debutant Zak Surety represents an immediate possible banana skin to overcome.
1. Zhao Xintong
It’s amazing to think that Zhao Xintong, competing as an amateur for the last time before his professional status is reinstated, represents the most likely world champion of the ten Chinese snooker players in the field.
But it’s hard to argue against it, with the 28 year-old’s magnificent form all season capped by a century-laden surge through the four World Championship qualifying rounds.
Zhao was China’s newest poster boy after his UK Championship glory in 2021, and it would be quite the story if he were to return with the ultimate bang in Sheffield after being caught up in the game’s most damaging scandal.
Featured photo credit: WST
