Shaun Murphy claims his snooker rivals are ‘fuming’ that the World Snooker Tour (WST) have ‘backtracked’ on their own rules regarding amateur players. Players are divided over whether Zhao Xintong should boast 500,000 ranking points next season after winning the World Championship as an amateur.

The Chinese star was booted off the professional circuit after being hit with a 20-month ban in 2023. He has since qualified for a tour card for next season via Q-school and cemented his place with his remarkable triumph at The Crucible. However, his professional status does not become active until next season. The WST’s entry pack, which 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 said that Zhao will receive the points from his World Championship success, elevating him to World No. 11. Some players are said to be ‘fuming’ over the situation.

Speaking on the OneFourSeven Snooker Podcast, 2005 world champion Murphy said: “I can’t see anyone from the powers that be at World Snooker Tour climbing down from this. It would be some public climb-down to now go, ‘Actually guys, we got that wrong, and Zhao, sorry to tell you this, we’ve actually made a total mess of this one. You’re not going to get your 500,000 points. The money is safe in your bank but it’s not going to show on your ranking for next season.’

“The elephant in the room is that he’s earned the points. There’s a slight discrepancy in snooker in that World Snooker Tour don’t differentiate between amateurs and pros. He’s an amateur, with a little asterisk next to his name, but he is an amateur competing in a professional event. He has no standing in the game, no ranking, so where do his points go? That one is a baffling one for me. He has no ranking to add them to. I found that confusing.

“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 World Snooker Tour have. The players are fuming about it.”

Ranking points are based on money won by players. Zhao, a former UK champion and German Masters winner, banked £500,000 for his victory over Mark Williams.

Clarifying Zhao’s situation, the WST said earlier this week: “The principal clearly established in snooker is that amateurs can earn prize money and ranking points in the same way that professionals do, and there are many precedents for this.

“Zhao has earned his top 64 place on merit, he will keep the rankings points he has earned and if he wins the World Championship he will be seeded second for most events next season which again is a long standing principal.

“Our entry pack was agreed with the Players Board before the start of this season. We accept that the wording in this particular paragraph could have been clearer, but the principals are unchanged and well established.”