2 Chinese snooker players banned for life, 8 more suspended in match-fixing scheme

The World Snooker Tour sanctioned 10 Chinese snooker players after a disciplinary commission found them guilty of match-fixing. Two of them, Liang Wenbo and Li Hang, were banned for life from the sport. The other 8 were suspended, ranging from 20 months to over 5 years. An independent disciplinary commission found Liang and Li guilty of match-fixing in 5 matches They also encouraged or pressured other players to fix matches between July and December. Those banned players include big names in the sport. Liang is a former finalist in the UK Championship, Yan Bingtao is the 2021 Masters Champion, and Zhao Xintong is the UK Championship winner. The incident is the biggest corruption scandal in billiards and snooker history. Last year, an investigation was opened following an alert from the International Betting Integrity Association and World Snookers Integrity Unit. The 10 players were suspended while the investigation was ongoing. Jason Ferguson, chairman of governing body the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, or WPBSA, said, This behavior has been recognized as wholly unacceptable by the imposition of two lifetime bans from participating in recognized snooker in any way. He added, Those who try to corrupt sport are constantly trying to find new ways to avoid our monitoring processes, and this outcome must be taken as a lesson to those who think they can avoid detection. If any player is involved in fixing a snooker match, they will be caught and will face severe penalties.