Zhao Xintong puts Judd Trump and Ronnie O'Sullivan on alert with comments in China

 Zhao Xintong was given a hero's welcome even though he is banned from playing snooker in China.

Zhao Xintong was welcomed back to China.

Zhao Xintong has warned his snooker rivals that the reception he received upon first returning to China will only spur him to greater heights. Even though the new world champion is officially still banned from competing in Chinese competitions, he was given a hero’s welcome and swarmed by hundreds of fans at the airport.

Over 150 million people across the country watched Zhao become the first Asian winner at the Crucible, despatching Mark Williams with relative ease, having put Ronnie O’Sullivan to the sword in a similar fashion earlier in the competition. He has followed in Ding Junhui’s footsteps and is now the poster child for snooker in China. The sport is booming, with 300,000 halls across the country, and an estimated 50 million people play it.

Zhao was bowled over by the number of people who turned out to welcome him back to China at Shenzhen Bao’an airport. Fans placed flowers in his arms, and reporters pushed microphones towards him.

“I was so shocked,” he told Shenzhen TV about the reception to his homecoming. “It was something I never imagined would happen to me. I guess from now on I’ll have to hold myself to an even higher standard.”

A higher standard than playing almost perfect snooker to take the top gong in Sheffield. If the likes of O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson were hoping that Zhao might take his foot off the pedal, they are sorely mistaken.

Zhao Xintong wants to achieve even more next season.

“Thanks again everyone for your support. I’ll start again and take it slow, and continue to achieve better results in snooker,” Zhao said at the airport.

He can take some time to relax and bask in the incredible achievement, coming through qualifiers as an amateur to win the World Championship.

Attention will soon turn back to the baize, however, starting with the Championship League in Leicester and then the Shanghai Masters, Saudi Arabia Masters and Wuhan Open all between July and September.

Zhao is the first Chinese world champion, but he is unlikely to be the last, and called for budding talents from his homeland to move to the UK in order to achieve their snooker dreams.

On May 14, 2025 World Snooker Champion and Chinese snooker star Zhao Xintong sat down for an exclusive interview with Shenzhen TV. He expressed heartfelt gratitude and said he would hold himself to even higher standards moving forward. #ZhaoXintong #SnookerChampion… pic.twitter.com/2YyYuzY6Fx

— Shenzhen Channel (@sz_mediagroup) May 15, 2025

 Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Zhao said: "I feel that in the UK, the level of training is better because the players here are more skilled and it helps to raise your standard.

"On the mainland, for example, the level isn't that high, and the level of competition is also not that high, so your motivation won't be as strong. If you really want to play professionally, it's definitely better to train in the UK."

Top British stars will have raised their eyebrows and Zhao’s win and encouragement for more Chinese starlets to copy, especially as the new champ plans to keep on winning next season.