Snooker match-fixing: Chinese officials vow betting crackdown after 10 guilty players handed heavy bans
- Liang Wenbo and Li Hang banned for life as all of the Chinese players charged are found guilty
- Former Masters champion Yan Bingtao barred for five years and UK Championship winner Zhao Xintong for 20 months
Chinese snooker bosses have vowed to crack down on betting after 10 of the country’s professionals, including two who had been tipped as future world champions, were banned in the worst match-fixing scandal in the sport’s history.
The heaviest punishments were handed out to Liang Wenbo and Li Hang, who have been barred from the game for life for fixing matches as well as soliciting, inducing and persuading others to do so.
The pair, aged 36 and 32, were described by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) as ringleaders who put pressure on younger players to break the rules. They were also found guilty of orchestrating an attempted cover-up.
Among the eight others to be banned for between 20 months and five years were Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong, who had both been seen as having the potential to become China’s first world champion.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association (CBSA) said it took “a zero-tolerance attitude” to gambling and match-fixing, and would “hold cautionary education across the whole industry and launch a series of measures to carry out anti-betting and anti-counterfeiting”.
A number of Chinese players have relocated to Britain to compete in tournaments there, and the CBSA said it would “increase management of professional players in the UK, strengthen cooperation with international organisations and jointly prevent similar incidents from happening again”.