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Why new world snooker champion Zhao Xintong cannot play in China
Zhao is prohibited from taking part in events in mainland China even after becoming his country’s first world champion
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A curious footnote to Zhao Xintong’s triumph at the World Snooker Championship on Monday is that he remains banned from playing in China.
He is forbidden to appear at events there, despite being free to compete in – and win – the world’s biggest tournaments.
The origins lie in 2023, when Zhao was among 10 Chinese players banned in the sport’s biggest match-fixing scandal.
An investigation found he had not fixed matches, but he was handed a global suspension of 30 months, reduced to 20 months, after accepting he had been a party to another player fixing two matches, and had bet on matches himself.
The Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association (CBSA) then announced domestic bans that for some players outlasted the global ones – equating to the original punishments before they were reduced for pleading guilty. Zhao was given a 30-month sanction in China.
Global chiefs cleared Zhao to resume playing at the end of his 20-month ban in September 2024, and he began competing on the Q Tour, the amateur circuit beneath the elite World Snooker Tour.
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