Zhao Xintong needs to “change his game” despite winning his first-ever World Snooker Championship against Mark Williams, former Crucible king Ken Doherty has claimed. Xintong captured the imagination of the sporting world when he became the first-ever Asian player to be crowned world champion earlier this month.

Zhao Xintong became the first Chinese player to win the World Snooker Championship with a victory over Welshman and three-times winner Mark Williams at the Crucible Theatre on Monday, the latest chapter in Zhao’s remarkable rise and fall story.

With “The Cyclone’s” victory demonstrating China's growing power in the sport, chair of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) Jason Ferguson insists that snooker’s inclusion in the Olympic programme is now realistic.