Snooker star suspended over match-fixing scandal on brink of tour card and £15,000 bonus as he opens up about ‘small mistake’

ZHAO XINTONG can secure a World Snooker Tour card if he wins the £250,000 British Championship in York.

The Chinese amateur queue booked his place in the last 32 – he faces the No. 9 seed Shaun Murphy on Saturday – after beating Ricky Walden 6-2 in the qualifier in Leicester.

Zhao Xintong says snooker is more important to him than everCredit: Getty

Shaun Murphy will be a huge test for Xintong this weekendCredit: Getty

If he wins the Triple Crown titlewill he postpone the one-year world ranking and top four at the end of the season are guaranteed a professional place for the 2025-26 campaign.

He is also in line for the £15k high break bonus as he knocked in 146 in his first qualifier last weekend – unless someone celebrates a maximum of 147.

Xintong – winner of the 2021 British title – was one in ten Chinese players were prosecuted and suspended for breaching the match-fixing rules in June 2023.

He received a 20-month ban, which ended in September, even though he did NOT fix a game himself.

Xintong, 27, called his crime a “little mistake” and added: “I missed this because I didn’t play here for two years.

“Now I’m coming back. I want to enjoy the tournament and do my best. It’s much different. This is more important for me.

“I like snooker. I have to come back. I will do my best in practice. I want to come back to the snooker table. I love it even more.

Xintong added: “Shaun is a very good player. He can pot a lot of balls.”

Ronnie O'Sullivan is also in action on Saturday, hoping to bounce back — Ronnie O’Sullivan is also in action on Saturday, hoping to bounce backCredit: Getty

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He also insists he has learned from his ban.

Xintong told the BBC: “Two years ago I made a small mistake, now I have come back.

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“Let them know this is a big lesson, don’t make the mistake. Play snooker, it’s very good.

“These two years have been very long for me, I have been training every day.

“I knew I was going to come back so I have to be sure of myself.”

Ronnie O’Sullivanthe defending champions, are also in action on Saturday afternoon at the Barbican.

The seven-time Crucible king, 48, faces 45-year-old Englishman Barry Hawkins, the man he beat in the 2013 world final.

List of all-time world snooker champions

BELOW is a list of world snooker champions by year.

The record is for the modern era, generally believed to be from the 1968-69 season, when the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) took control of the sport.

The first World Championship ran from 1927 – with a break from 1941-45 due to Second World War and 1958-63 due to a dispute within the sport.

Joe Davis (15), Fred Davis and John Pulman (both 8) were the most successful players in that period.

Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan share the record for most titles in modern timeswith seven each.