There are few sports as synonymous with one place as snooker is with Sheffield. For two weeks every year, this city becomes the beating heart of the sport, with supporters from across the globe descending upon South Yorkshire – but this year there is a distinct feel of significant change on the horizon.
That is not to suggest that the future of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible is any more under threat than usual: there have been almost annual murmurings about the event being moved from its spiritual home, though there is hope a new deal can be agreed to keep it here beyond the end of the current deal in 2027. It is more on the baize this year where there is the potential for a seismic shift.
The queues wound around Tudor Square to get inside the Crucible on Saturday. Inside the adjacent Winter Gardens, from where the BBC often broadcasts mid-session, there were scores of fans playing, watching or just talking all things snooker. Sheffield makes an effort every year, despite the size limitations of the Crucible, to show that it is the home of snooker, and among the healthy crowds were a significant number of Chinese fans – who have plenty to be excited about.
Chinese snooker has been a turbulent place of late, headlined by the 2023 match-fixing scandal that threatened to engulf the sport in Asia as 10 of the most prominent players from China were banned. But there are encouraging signs that a resurgence remains eminently possible, with the record 10 Chinese players in this year’s tournament being almost a third of the field.
They are not here to make up the numbers either. Three were in action on the opening day and given the draw there is the high prospect of at least one all-Chinese quarter-final. Two of the players had contrasting mornings in the event’s opening session: Lei Peifan trailed the world champion, Kyren Wilson, 6-3 while Xiao Guodong led Matthew Selt 7-2.
It is estimated as many as 200 million people will be watching in China, raising the question of whether snooker’s ceiling could be elevated should any of the 10 go all the way and become the first Chinese world champion. There has always been hope in that regard but walking around Sheffield there was an increasing sense of expectation.
Arguably the most intriguing Chinese player is Zhao Xintong. He was one of the players suspended in 2023, receiving a 20-month ban for his part in the match-fixing scandal. The 28-year-old has returned to the amateur circuit and made his way through qualifying to reach the Crucible, only the third non-professional to get this far. He starts his match against Jak Jones on Sunday.
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Stephen Hendry has declared Zhao the best Chinese chance of a world championship victory, with Jimmy White identifying him, Si Jiahui and Wu Yize – who trails Mark Williams 5-4 after their opening session – as the trio that could become this generation’s Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Williams and John Higgins.
That suggestion perhaps neatly embodies where snooker finds itself. The old guard who have brought so much success to the sport are intertwined with the Crucible, but there is a big, wide world beyond Sheffield. You can feel the Chinese presence on and off the table more than ever in 2025. If snooker does find itself crowning its first Chinese world champion on 5 May, what doors could that open for an event so famously associated with one city and one venue in particular?