On April 16, Beijing time, the official social media account of the World Television Federation released an interview video of Zhao Xintong, which should have been recorded before the start of the Snooker World Championships, during the interview, Zhao Xintong communicated with reporters in fluent English, answered reporters' questions, and smiled throughout the whole process, it can be seen that Zhao Xintong has fully integrated into British culture.
In the face of the interview of foreign reporters, Zhao Xintong was very calm, without the slightest nervousness, and looked very confident. For this year's Snooker World Championship, Zhao Xintong said that he was very excited: the first time to be a seeded player in Crucible, I was very excited, the pressure was also very high, I will enjoy the game.
Zhao Xintong's first opponent at this World Championship is Jamie Clark, who is the first time to enter the Round of 32 of the World Championships, and is a completely new world championship rookie. The reporter asked a question about Jamie Clark, and Zhao Xintong said: I saw him (Clark) win the qualifiers, the game is very good, very exciting. I'm happy for him.
At present, at the end of the first stage, Zhao Xintong led Jamie Clark 7-2 with a large score, and in the first round of the 19-game 10-win World Championship, Zhao Xintong was only 3 sets away from victory, and Zhao Xintong's chances of qualifying were very high. In his career, Zhao Xintong has only participated in the World Championship once before, and lost to Selby in the first round in 2019. Today, Zhao Xintong is only 3 sets away from the best record in the history of the World Championship Round of 16.
Undoubtedly, this season is definitely a season of Great Harvest for Zhao Xintong, the first title of his career is one of the three major competitions of the British Championship, and then he won the German Masters Championship, and has begun to cash in on his talent.
Zhao Xintong's success is inseparable from the help of 1 person, who is "Rocket" O'Sullivan.
In this interview, Zhao Xintong thanked O'Sullivan: he (O'Sullivan) is a good person, like a friend, we ordered a Chinese hot pot tonight and ate it together. Sometimes he taught me important things in snooker and I appreciated them.
In addition, full integration into the UK is also one of the factors of Zhao Xintong's success, Zhao Xintong said: Sheffield is my favorite city in the UK, I live here, there are many Chinese friends. It's good for me, it's like home and I'll try to be the best I can in the game.