Enjoy some of the best shots from the 2025 World Championship final.

John Parrott
1991 world champion on BBC Two

Zhao will become a scalp now.

Before the tournament started, I'd be very surprised if people put him in as a finalist. He's thoroughly deserved to win the World Championship, by the way.

But he's now a scalp - people will look at him and want to play Zhao Xintong.

After coming through four qualifying rounds, this is how Zhao Xintong scaled the Crucible mountain.

Image source, Getty Images

Monday, 7 April, 2025: Zhao Xintong starts his first qualifying match at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

Monday, 5 May, 2025: Zhao Xintong beats Mark Williams in the final at the Crucible Theatre to become world champion.

Image source, PA Media

John Parrott
1991 world champion on BBC Two

You think about how many snooker clubs they've got in China, clubs with hundreds of tables, and the population in general - he's going to inspire another wave of players in China and all over Asia.

There will be more to come. Whether they will be as talented as him, I don't know, because this boy is very talented.

Zhao Xintong's world title win means he will start next season at number 11 in the world rankings.

He has ed nine other Chinese players in the world's top 32, with England (15) the only nation with more players ranked in the top echelons of the sport.

Steve Davis
Six-time world champion on BBC Two

Every time anybody put anything up to him, he responded. He's a cool customer. He just takes everything in his stride and he's going to be a danger in the future.

You see the quality of Zhao Xintong - it's the future and the shape of things to come. But not just from China, we're seeing more players come out from Europe as well. It's going to be a slow diversification around the world and snooker will be the healthier for it.

From the UK's perspective, we've got some great young players coming through as well - it's going to be a great balance in the future.

It's no longer just the top 16 that have it all their own way - the qualifiers are their own individual tournament and the qualifiers are getting stronger and stronger.

If you're just ing our coverage hoping to catch the conclusion of the World Championship final, Zhao Xintong has completed an 18-12 win over Mark Williams to become the first Asian man to lift the world title.

Williams won the first four frames of this evening's session, but 28-year-old Zhao got the one frame he needed after the interval to collect the winner's prize of £500,000 and that famous trophy.

Read more in Steve Sutcliffe's report.

John Parrott
1991 world champion on BBC Two

It's a second chance and he's totally redeemed himself. He did the crime, he's had the time, he held his hand up, the association has handled it with the punishment he got.

Two of his compatriots got life bans, it was handled very well.

Here he is, he's got a second chance, he's come back and he won't be doing it again.

For some, Zhao Xintong's maiden world title will have something of a cloud over it, given he began the 2024-25 season suspended from snooker.

Zhao was given a 20-month ban in 2023 following an investigation into match-fixing in the sport. He did not directly throw a match, but he accepted charges of being a party to another player fixing two matches and betting on matches himself. He was one of 10 players sanctioned.

He returned to action in September on the Q Tour and his success there earned him a spot in World Championship qualifying.

Before appearing at the UK Championship in November, he told the BBC: "Two years ago I made a little mistake, now I've come back. I know how important snooker is to me and now I just want to come back to the snooker table.

"Let them [other players] know this is a big lesson, don't make the mistake. Play snooker, it's a very good thing."

Regardless of your opinion on his suspension and subsequent return to the sport, there can be no doubt that the snooker Zhao has produced over the past month or so is worthy of a world champion.

Zhao Xintong's World Championship began on 7 April in the first round of qualifying.

Exactly four weeks later, the 28-year-old is the world champion.

• First amateur to win the world title
• Third qualifier to win the title since the World Championship moved to the Crucible in 1977, ing Terry Griffiths (1979) and Shaun Murphy
• First male player from Asia to become world champion
• Beaten last year's runner-up (Jak Jones) and two former world champions (Mark Williams and Ronnie O'Sullivan) on his way to winning the tournament
• Fourth left-handed world champion, following Williams, Neil Robertson and Judd Trump
• Youngest champion at the Crucible since Murphy, who won aged 22 in 2005

This is a watershed moment for snooker.

The sport's popularity in China has been growing exponentially over the past two decades, helped by Ding Junhui's initial success as a teenager in the mid-2000s.

Ding, an icon in his homeland, came close to lifting the world title in 2016 but lost to Mark Selby in the final.

Now a Chinese player has finally climbed the Crucible mountain to become world champion. It's likely that Zhao Xintong to be the first of many.

Image source, PA Media

New world champion Zhao Xintong, speaking to BBC Two:

"I can't believe what I've done. It's very exciting. Thank you.

"I was so nervous tonight. Mark is still a top player and put me under so much pressure. He's the best.

"I'm not tired. I'll maybe have a good drink tonight."

Image source, PA Media

We'll hear from the new world champion shortly, but a word for Mark Williams, who has done something really special during this World Championship.

Aged 50, he is the oldest player to appear in a Crucible final and getting to the Sheffield showpiece is something he has now achieved in four different decades.

He will also climb to number three in the world rankings, courtesy of his £200,000 runners-up prize. Only Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson, last year's world champion, are above him.

A "big decision" awaits the Welshman in the summer - he is booked in for lens replacement surgery in June to improve his deteriorating eyesight, but he said during the World Championship that he may reconsider.

More from World Championship runner-up Mark Williams:

"I'm still playing quite good stuff, even though my eyesight is a bit blurry.

"The reception I've had all week... but tonight was something special. When I was stood on the steps and they were all on their feet - it brought a tear to the eye.

"But the night belongs to Zhao and congratulations."

World Championship runner-up Mark Williams, speaking to BBC Two:

"It's been a brilliant tournament for me. The I've had for the past two weeks has been unbelievable.

"But what a potter Zhao is. I'm glad I'll be too old when he's dominating the game. I've got nothing but iration for what he's done, coming through the qualifiers. He hasn't played for two years, bashed everybody up. There's a new superstar of the game."

A warm embrace between the two finalists, and warm applause from the Crucible crowd as they acclaim a new champion.

Zhao Xintong is handed a flag of China and he will soon be lifting the biggest prize in snooker.

Life is going to be a bit different for him from now on...

There's a new king of the Crucible Theatre.

Well played, Zhao Xintong - the 2025 world snooker champion.