Three Reds, One Shot: Zhao Xintong Conjures a Moment of Pure Magic at the Crucible
A Hush, Then a Roar
There are moments at the Crucible that stop you mid-breath — shots so unexpected, so delightfully improbable, that even the most seasoned snooker crowd needs a beat to process what it has just witnessed. Zhao Xintong delivered one of those moments during his World Snooker Championship quarter-final against Shaun Murphy, potting not one, not two, but three reds simultaneously in a single stroke. The gasp from the Sheffield crowd said everything. The smile that crept across Zhao's face said the rest.
It is the kind of shot that commentators reach for superlatives to describe and then abandon them entirely, because the image itself does all the work. Three reds, trickling and tumbling in different directions, each finding a pocket as if choreographed. It is, as was noted in the commentary box with considerable understatement, not something you see very often. In truth, you almost never see it at all.
Following in the Footsteps of a Legend
The feat drew immediate comparisons to the late, great John Virgo, the beloved former World Championship finalist and long-serving television personality whose trick-shot exhibitions made this kind of multiple-pot look like a party piece. Virgo passed away in January 2025, and his absence from the snooker world has left a particular kind of warmth missing from the game. To have his name invoked during this World Championship — in the context of genuine, in-match brilliance rather than a rehearsed exhibition — felt like a fitting, if bittersweet, tribute. Snooker has a habit of honouring its past in the most unexpected ways.
What makes Zhao's effort all the more remarkable is the context. This was not a practice room flourish or a pre-match warm-up novelty. This was a World Championship quarter-final, with all the pressure and intensity that phrase carries. The Crucible does not forgive loose shots, and it certainly does not reward showboating. When three reds disappear at once under those lights, you can be certain it was not entirely planned — but that is precisely what made it so electrifying.
Zhao's Journey Back to the Top Table
For Zhao Xintong, reaching the quarter-finals of the World Snooker Championship represents a chapter in what has already become one of the most dramatic stories in modern snooker. The Chinese potter, who claimed the UK Championship title in 2021 with a brand of free-flowing, attacking snooker that had the sport buzzing, subsequently faced a period away from the game following a betting investigation that resulted in a ban for a number of players. His return to the tour has been watched closely by fans and pundits alike, many of whom believe his natural talent places him firmly among the elite.
That talent was on full display against Shaun Murphy, a two-time ranking event winner and former world champion himself — a man who has never been shy about backing himself on snooker's biggest stage. Murphy, now in his forties, remains a fierce competitor with a tactical mind that can dismantle opponents who are not fully switched on. For Zhao to be producing moments of brilliance of this magnitude against such an opponent speaks volumes about where his head is at during this tournament.
The Shot That Snooker Needed
There is something important about moments like these, beyond the spectacle itself. Snooker, for all its tension and tactical depth, occasionally needs reminding of its own capacity for joy. The World Championship is rightly treated with reverence — seventeen days of sustained drama, late nights, heartbreak and glory — but it can also become weighted with gravity. A shot like Zhao's cuts through all of that. It is snooker at its most alive: unpredictable, visually stunning, and entirely unrepeatable.
Social media, predictably, lit up within seconds. Clips of the three reds finding their pockets circulated rapidly, drawing in viewers who might not otherwise have been following day eleven of the tournament. That is the quiet power of a moment like this — it acts as an ambassador for the sport, pulling curious eyes towards Sheffield and keeping them there.
Whether Zhao Xintong goes on to lift the trophy and etch his name permanently into Crucible folklore remains to be seen. But this quarter-final has already given him — and us — something worth holding on to. Three reds, one shot, and a stadium that briefly forgot to breathe. That is why we watch.
