Snooker star inadvertently helped out by Zhao Xintong after ranking points controversy

's recent triumph has inadvertently helped a British snooker player to regain his tour card for the next two seasons. Zhao secured Crucible glory earlier this month to become the first player from China to land the sport's most prestigious prize. He defeated in the final, surviving a late surge from the Welshman to claim the spoils.

One of the knock-on effects from Zhao's impressive triumph will see Dylan Emery regain his place on the World Snooker Tour (WST) next season. The promising 24-year-old finished in second place in the final Q Tour Europe Rankings, having claimed a notable victory at the second event of the season in Bulgaria. He previously spent time on tour between 2022 and 2024 but missed out last season.

An official WTA statement read: "With overall Q Tour Europe winner Zhao Xintong having subsequently gone on to regain his place as a top 64 player following his historic success at the recent World Championship.

"In accordance with the Q Tour entry conditions, which state that the top ranked eligible player will receive a World Snooker Tour card, Emery will therefore take the place."

It comes after with the WST 'backtracking' on their own rules concerning amateur players.

Zhao is technically an amateur, having been kicked off the professional circuit when he was banned for 20 months in 2023. However, he will be allowed to keep the 500,000 ranking points he gained for winning the World Championship.

The WST entry pack, which all players sign, clearly states that an amateur player's ranking points 'will always reset to zero at the start of each season'.

The governing body have since accepted that the wording is poorly phrased but confirmed that Zhao will receive the points from his World Championship success, elevating him to 11th in the rankings.

Discussing the situation on the podcast, Murphy said: "It would be slightly odd if he were to start next season No. 11 in the world, No. 2 seed, with a big fat zero next to his name. I understand that that would be odd.

"We're in a peculiar situation because it's never happened, but we're also in a situation where we have it in black and white that the Tour have at least written and thought about this as a scenario that could happen.

"They've accounted for it, they've written it, we've agreed it, and now they're backtracking on it. That's left a really sour taste in the mouth of every professional snooker player that I've spoken to.

"I can assure you I've spoken to more [players] than the World Snooker Tour have. The players are fuming about it."