Snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan tipped to dominate the sport for 'next decade' was banned for match-fixing

The snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan tipped to dominate snooker was once banned for match-fixing.

Back in 2022, O'Sullivan appeared on Eurosport and after watching an interview involving Chinese snooker player Zhao Xintong, The Rocket was asked to name a player which he thinks could dominate the sport for the next decade.

The question was: "Hi Ronnie, who do you see (if anyone) bneing the dominant force in snooker in the next decade?"

O'Sullivan quickly replied: "The guy you just saw on the TV (Zhao Xintong), without a doubt."

Speaking in the same year, O'Sullivan compared Zhao to a young Stephen Henry, who became a legend in the sport.

As reported by The Express, he said: "The last time I was this excited about a player was when I saw Stephen Hendry play when I was only about nine years old… Zhao is the only one since that made me think 'Wow, he could be something special'.

"He could be the greatest of all time with his talent, his ability. I always say he's Roger Federer with a snooker cue in his hands. He's like me, he's a quick learner."

However, Zhao's career was halted in 2023 after he was embroiled in a betting scandal.

At the time, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association charged Zhao with fixing two matches in March 2022 and betting on snooker matches between 2019 and 2022.

Zhao Xintong is one of the favourites to win the 2025 World Snooker Championship. Image: Getty

As a result, the youngster was slapped with a 20-month ban, which expired in September 2024.

Speaking about the scandal to the BBC, Zhao said: "Two years ago I made a little mistake… I know how important snooker is to me. These two years have been very long for me, I've practiced every day."

This week, Zhao made a winning start to the 2025 World Snooker Championship, beating Jak Jones 10-4.

Speaking afterwards, Jones said: "Zhao looked really sharp, the qualifiers have done him good, and I've had two best-of-sevens in the past 10 weeks or so.

"I kind of felt that out there, I didn't feel sharp at all. He put me under a lot of pressure, his scoring and long-potting was good and I think he'll be hard to stop."