Chinese snooker match fixing: Zhao Xintong ‘tried to talk Yan Bingtao out of cheating’, amid toxic gambling and bullying

Liang Wenbo coerced young players to rig matches, while they could go to ‘elder brother’ Li Hang if they wished to bet or get involved in fixing, panel finds

Zhao tried to dissuade Yan from fixing, only to become a party to it, verdict reveals after both are banned along with eight other Chinese players

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Zhao Xintong (pictured) was revealed in the verdict to have tried to dissuade his friend Yan Bingtao from fixing matches. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:45am, 8 Jun 2023Updated: 12:34pm, 9 Jun 2023

Chinese snooker was left tarnished with several promising careers in tatters after the sport’s biggest ever match-fixing scandal resulted in bans for all 10 of the country’s players who were involved.

The full verdict from the investigation, released on Tuesday and announcing life bans for Liang Wenbo and Li Hang as well as a five-year suspension for Yan Bingtao, laid bare the dynamic that led the 10 into corruption, a toxic mix of isolation, mutual reliance, recreational gambling and bullying.

Yan was only 16 when he first fixed a match. By 20, he was the youngest to win the Masters in 26 years. It will be 2027 before he can play again.

Examined during the hearing in London was Zhao Xintong’s fateful decision to go along with his long-time friend Yan’s attempt to fix two matches last year.

The verdict condemned Liang Wenbo for pressuring and threatening other Chinese players into fixing. Photo: Xinhua

Zhao – a former UK champion and the only player charged who had not fixed a match himself – received the lightest sanction, of one year and eight months.