Snooker player set for return to sport following match-fixing scandal as new star banned
Another of the 10 Chinese snooker players engulfed in a match-fixing scandal is set to make a return to the World Snooker Tour next season.
In June 2023, nine Chinese players were given varying suspensions after being found guilty of match-fixing on the main tour.
Two of those players, Liang Wenbo and Li Hang, received lifetime bans from snooker, with the pair effectively acting as ringleaders.
Other players convicted of match-fixing included former Masters champion Yan Bingtao and UK Championship semi-finalist Lu Ning.
Advert
New world champion Zhao Xintong, meanwhile, was not convicted of match-fixing and instead accepted a lesser charge of being a party to another party fixing two matches (being aware of a match being fixed) and betting on matches. His ban expired in 2024 and he returned to playing on the amateur Q Tour, before competing in the UK Championship and World Championship.
The 10 bans were given out while the WPBSA were investigating Mark King over suspicious betting patterns relating to a match at the Welsh Open in 2023. King was given a five-year ban for one count each of match-fixing and providing insider information, with his ban lasting until March 2028.
Meanwhile, another one of the sport's previously banned players will make a return to professional snooker when the season gets underway in June.
As part of the Chinese match-fixing scandal, Chang Bingyu admitted fixing a match at the 2022 British Open, in which he lost 4-1 to Jamie Jones.
Chang, who was just 20 at the time of his initial suspension from the tour and ranked at number 81, was given a three-year suspension by the WPBSA, reduced to two years after early admissions and a guilty plea.
Chang was eligible to return to snooker at the end of his ban - backdated to his initial suspension - in December 2024, and subsequently competed in the Asia-Pacific Snooker Championship.
He defeated Ryan Thomerson of Australia 6-1 in the final, earning an immediate return to the World Snooker Tour.
In his interview as part of the WPBSA's preliminary investigation into the scandal, Chang told a WPBSA representative that he had only £100 in his bank account as of December 2022 and had to borrow money from friends.
He would also claim that he received a threatening phone call from Liang on the morning of his fixed match, and said he was 'afraid ... of possible repercussions' if he did not go through with the fix.
The Commission subsequently found that Liang fixed or contrived the result of the match against Jones.
In their findings, the WPBSA 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."
Topics: Snooker, World Snooker Championship
Ryan Smart