Zhao Xintong spent 2024 World Snooker Championship pushing fluffy Pomeranian around in a PRAM during ban

ZHAO XINTONG is on the brink of making snooker history at the World Snooker Championship.

However, go back 12 months and instead of a snooker table, the Chinese cueist was walking his dog around in a pram.

INSTAGRAM @zhaoxintong

Zhao Xintong was sharing photos of his Pomeranian during his 20-month snooker ban[/caption]

Reuters

Zhao is on the brink on becoming Asia’s first world snooker champion[/caption]

INSTAGRAM @zhaoxintong

He first shared photos of the dog before this year’s tournament[/caption]

INSTAGRAM @zhaoxintong

His first photo with the fluffy pet was in October 2023[/caption]

The 28-year-old ended his afternoon session against Mark Williams needing just one frame to be crowned world champion after racing into a 17-8 lead.

But as he looks to become the first ever champion from Asia, Zhao’s circumstances could not have been more different.

Zhao was in the middle of a 20-month ban due to his involvement in a snooker corruption probe – although he did not directly fix a match.

The suspension meant Xintong was stripped of his place on the professional circuit and relegated to amateur status.

He regained his place through the Q Tour and came through FOUR matches in qualifying for the Crucible.

But one year ago, Zhao was busy posting photos of his Pomeranian on Instagram.

His first photo with the pet appears to have come from October 2023 when Zhao shared a snap of himself sitting next to it, simply captioned with a dog emoji.

In posts since then, he has been seen on walks with the dog in Shanghai, China, as it sported some cute yellow boots.

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And last Spring as Kyren Wilson was crowned world champion at the Crucible, Zhao was sharing snaps of his fluffy dog as he took it around in a pram, including another photo of it winking at the camera.

Dog-lover Zhao has also shared photos of his pet while he jets around the globe, describing it as “super cute”, including images of him enjoying a sunset by a lake in his homeland.

After returning to the snooker tour as an amateur, Zhao was seen cuddling his dog in a post in March.

Later on he shared photos of the pair going for a walk around London and relaxing before the start of the World’s.

Zhao beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 17-7 in the semi-final to reach the final but back in May 2022 was seen enjoying dinner with the seven-time world champion as the Rocket cuddled his own dog.

The 49-year-old had said that year that his new dog had “restored my faith in life”, so Zhao’s decision to get a dog may have been partly inspired by O’Sullivan’s glowing review.