Zhao Xintong met with a long queue of fans the day after becoming the first Asian player to win the World Snooker Championship. The newly-crowned Crucible king was unable to pose for photos and sign autographs on Monday evening - so made a touching gesture to his fans.

A string of media duties and an after-party mean the winner rarely leaves the venue until the early hours of the morning. Zhao was therefore unable to meet his fans to celebrate his success. However, he invited them all to the Sheffield arena the very next day. The 28-year-old, who has moved up to No. 11 in the world after banking £500,000, has been filmed taking photos and signing autographs.

Zhao, who was dressed in a large white coat and a navy cap, was happy to host a meet and greet outside the Crucible. Remarkably, the lengthy queue to meet the Chinese star extended around several corners of the famous theatre.

An X post from Vic Snooker Academy, who host Zhao alongside other snooker stars, read: “Xintong couldn’t spend a lot of time with his fans last night with media duties and the after party, but he was happy to meet them this morning at 11am outside the Crucible.

“The queue is snaking around the @crucibletheatre with more and more coming. A popular champion!”

Zhao defeated Mark Williams 18-12 to become the world champion for the first time. A stunning display of potting was made even more remarkable by the fact that he had been forced to come through four qualifying rounds just to enter the main draw. That is because he only returned to the snooker circuit last September after serving a 20-month ban after he was accused of being party to match-fixing and betting on snooker.

"I can't believe what I've done. It's very exciting," Zhao said. “I was so nervous tonight. Mark is still a top player and put me under so much pressure. He's the best."

Zhao won the UK Championship in 2021 and secured his second ranking title at the German Masters a year later. His victory over Williams marks the biggest of his career to date. On his way to winning at the Crucible, he thumped Ronnie O'Sullivan 17-7 in an epic display of cueing.

In a lovely tribute, beaten finalist Williams said: "What a potter he is over there. I'm glad I'll be too old when he's dominating the game. I've got nothing but admiration for what he's done, coming through the qualifiers, he hasn't played for two years. He's bashed Ronnie up, he's bashed me up, he's bashed everybody up.”