On April 30, 2022, the World Snooker Tour (WST) released an important news, the 2021/22 "Fan Vote for Player of the Year" voting channel officially opened, this year's players into the shortlist of 5 players, they are Four Crowns in a single season Neil Robertson, Champions of Turkey Masters double champion Judd Trump, returning to the world's no. 1 World Grand Prix Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, Champions League overall champion and European Series top John Higgins, Zhao Xintong, winner of the British Championship and the German Masters, was nominated for the award for the first time by Chinese player Zhao Xintong.
Friends familiar with snooker know that according to the convention, after the end of the World Championship every year, WST will announce the final winners of the major awards of the season, and the awards are generally set up in 7, namely "Fan Voting Player of the Year", "Media Voting Player of the Year", "Best Performance of the Year", "Magical Moment of the Year", "Newcomer of the Year", as well as "Player of the Year" and "Hall of Fame", of which "Player of the Year" and "Hall of Fame" are the highlights and the most gold-worthy awards. For new professional players, "Newcomer of the Year" is also a recognition, and other awards can basically be considered consolation awards, but also a spiritual reward for their efforts that season.
Zhao Xintong's nomination this time is "Fan Vote For Player of the Year", although it is not the highest award, and it may not be able to get it in the end, but it is a breakthrough to be nominated for WST, which is worth congratulating. After all, Chinese players have not gained much at the WST's annual awards ceremony, Ding Junhui has been successfully inducted into the Snooker Hall of Fame, Xu Si, Yan Bingtao and Pang Junxu have also won the "Best Newcomer of the Year" award, and now Zhao Xintong's performance is also worthy of this award. It is also worth noting that Wu Yize, a post-00s youngster who has transferred to the profession for the first time this season, is expected to compete for the "Best Newcomer of the Year" award, and he reached the top 32 of the British Championship in the first year of his new career and occupied the first place in the world ranking list of new professional players.