CHRIS WAKELIN reckons shedding the pounds and quitting smoking will enable him to ruin Zhao Xintong’s world championship homecoming party.
Xintong, 28, lifted the £500,000 Crucible title in May – he is China’s first world snooker champion – and opens his season at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday.
GettyChris Wakelin pictured in 2023[/caption]
GettyHe has since dropped a stone in weight[/caption]
Rugby cueist Wakelin, 33, top scored with a 83 break as he beat 17-year-old Chinese amateur Jinhao Zhou 6-3 to book a Last-16 date with the Cyclone.
The pair met in Sheffield in the World quarter-finals but Wakelin struggled with “fatigue” as he was knocked out 13-5 by the then amateur player.
Since then Wakelin has shed nearly a stone in weight by running on the streets and even stopped smoking – he was often seen outside the Crucible with a cigarette in his mouth.
And he is feeling the health benefits at the start of the new campaign.
Though he will be the massive underdog, he hopes to incur the wrath of the home crowd by bursting the party balloons for the returning Asian superstar.
Wakelin, the world No.16, said: “Zhao represents one of the most ground-breaking, eye-catching matches there has been for a long, long time.
“This is the first time we have ever had a Chinese world champion and he is a great, great world champion as well.
“A phenomenal player. He’s got buckets of style, on and off the table. Even the way he walks around the table. He’s something really, really special.
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“It’s incredible what he has achieved. I won’t go down there, bow down to him myself and let him have the show.
“It’s my job to put an end to the world championship party. He’s going to have a lot of challenges ahead. A lot of pressure on his shoulders.
“I will give my best and prove why I am here in the first place.
“When he beat me at the World Championship a few months ago, I was really, really below par. I know I will have to play a lot better than I have done.
“We know what is in my tank. I believe and am really confident in what I can achieve.
“At the Worlds, he was super beatable in that match, which is the most disappointing thing from my perspective. I was so fatigued.
“I know Mark Williams spoke about it after the final. He’s a lot older than me.
“It catches up with you in the tournament. It happened to me in the quarter-finals.
PAZhao Xintong won the world title but Wakelin is out to ruin his China homecoming[/caption]
“I have made a lot of positive changes in my life over the last few months.
“I said I would be out getting fitter. I have upped my mileage, dropped nearly a stone in weight. Stopped smoking as well.
“The reasons why I lost in the World Championship are nothing to do with on the table. It was purely my physical fitness as opposed to the mental side of it.
“That’s something I am working on and getting towards that goal. I am improving. Hopefully that feeds into my game.”
Seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan plays his first match as a married man when he takes on Barry Hawkins in the second round of the main draw over the best-of-11 frames on Wednesday.
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