Disgraced snooker star makes £172k during Championship final despite not playing

A previously suspended snooker star made £172,000 from the recent World Championship despite failing to participate in the main section of the tournament.

22-year-old Wu Yize was crowned world champion in the 2026 edition, beating veteran Shaun Murphy at the Crucible Theatre to collect a whopping £500,000 in prize money.

But interestingly, another player received a handsome pay packet even though he did not qualify for the competition.

Chang Bingyu got to the third stage of qualifying, losing 10-8 in a pulsating encounter to 2023 world champion Luca Brecel.

Despite defeat, he produced a 147 maximum break - the second of his career after replicating his feat from the 2025 UK Championship.

After conjuring up a pair of maximum breaks in the season's Triple Crown events, Bingyu was rewarded with a staggering £147,000 bonus in line with the World Snooker Tour's prize offering.

Nobody managed to achieve a maximum in the primary stage of the World Championship and that meant Bingyu was given an extra £15,000 on top of that for the highest break prize, taking his total sum to £172,000.

Chang was banned for 20 months in relation to a match-fixing scandal. Image: Getty

Chang, runner up in the 2025 Scottish Open, was suspended from the professional tour in December 2022 as part of a major match-fixing probe into the sport.

One of Chinese players involved, he was hit with a 20-month ban that expired in December 2024.

Upon his return from the suspension, he won the Asia-Pacific Championship which secured his spot on the World Snooker Tour for the 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 seasons.

The scandal was the largest corruption case in all of snooker and brought lifetime bans for both Liang Wenbo and Li Hang - who essentially acted as the ringleaders.

Chang admitted to fixing his 4-1 loss to Jamie Jones at the 2022 British Open when he was just 20 but the investigation determined that he did so under pressure from Liang and was "afraid" of what might happen if he didn't agree to the demands.

Findings from the WPBSA (World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association) stated: "We note that, at the time that his match fixing took place, Chang was aged 20.

"He was young and impressionable and under the influence of Liang, of whom he was scared.

"Chang has given evidence that he thought Liang would take action against him if he did not comply with Liang's demands. "We accept that, in all probability, Chang would not have offended absent that level of threat."