According to the news, on June 7th, Beijing time, the World Snooker Tour (WST) issued a statement that the disciplinary committee of the independent World Professional Billie and Snooker Association (WPBSA) had ruled on 10 players accused of match-fixing, and imposed life-long bans on Liang Wenbo and Li Hsing, and long-term bans on other related players. Liang Wenbo and Li Hsing were banned for life, which also set a precedent in snooker.
It is reported that the situation of this case is that after the warning issued by IBIA in August 2022, the integrity department of WPBSA cooperated closely with Sportradar Company to conduct a detailed investigation, and finally accused 10 snooker players of seriously violating the WPBSA code of conduct. The 10 players were suspended before these violations were decided.
The case was heard in London before, and the players attended the hearing in person or by video, with the free WPBSA players’ associations as legal representatives or assistance.
On June 6, 2023, local time, the disciplinary court announced its investigation results of controversial allegations and its decision on sanctions.
Life-long ban sets a precedent
Take Liang Wenbo as an example, he was accused of manipulating many games; Contact multiple players to manipulate multiple games; Trying to obstruct the investigation; Not cooperating with WPBSA’s investigation Li Hsing, another player who was banned for life, was charged with the same thing, and one more thing was added: betting in snooker. According to Beijing Youth Daily, this time Liang Wenbo and Li Hsing were sentenced to life ban, which set a precedent.
Some media analysts believe that because snooker requires high accuracy, it is relatively difficult to judge whether it is a mistake or a fake ball, which also causes the phenomenon that fake balls are repeatedly banned in snooker competitions to some extent.
▲ Liang Wenbo. Image source/network
On December 1, 2018, Cao Yupeng, a 28-year-old China player, was banned by WPBSA for six years because he made profits for himself and his relatives and friends by playing fake ball. In 2022, he returned to the ranks of professional players early because of his good performance, and he also entered the ranking match several times. Yu Delu, 31, was banned for 10 years, and now he can only hang out in Chinese billiards.
The most severe punishment in the international arena is Stephen Lee, a talented player who was banned for 12 years in 2013 because of his long-term match-fixing and match-fixing, which is the most severe punishment made by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association before punishing China players.
The secrecy of trading has caused many players to take risks.
Earlier, according to the analysis of Li Xiaolong, a senior snooker media person quoted by Yangguang. com, due to the nature of snooker, it is difficult to define the performance of the players in the game, so the content of the game on the field is difficult to be used as evidence to judge the match-fixing. More cases of match-fixing are caused by the monitoring of abnormal bets by gambling companies and other off-site evidence.
Jinling Evening News had previously written that a snooker master can throw a ball in the dark, so that you can’t grasp the evidence completely. Only through the drastic changes in betting can you see some clues, but not every investigation has results, so many players will take risks.
According to Observer. com, as one of the latest international sports organizations in the world, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, which was not established until 1968, has been established. Since its establishment, a large number of snooker players have been investigated and even banned for allegedly accepting benefits for gambling groups, including many world-class athletes. Scottish "wizard" john higgins, the four-time world champion and the holder of 31 world snooker titles, was even praised by the then famous British gossip newspaper News of the World "fishing law enforcement" in 2010.
In this "fishing law enforcement", Higgins and his agent, former director of the World Federation of Taiwan, Pat Mooney, agreed to lose the match in several different games in exchange for a total reward of 300,000 euros. They further discussed with the fishermen how to cover up the scam, which games and opponents to choose, and how Higgins would get money.
▲ Yan Bingtao. Image source/network
After the incident, Mooney had to resign from his post in the World Taiwan Federation, while Higgins was suspended for six months and fined 75,000 pounds. In addition, Ai Bodun, Maguire and many other famous players have also been investigated for gambling.
Many affected players have high hopes.
The incident had a great impact on China snooker. Among the 10 people punished, there were experienced veterans like Liang Wenbo, and young players like Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong who had high hopes. After Ding Junhui, the latter two are the only China players who have won the "three major competitions (British Championship, World Championship and Masters)" in snooker.
Zhao Xintong is 25 years old. In 2021, he defeated Belgian player Luca Brecel in the final of the snooker British Championship, and won the first "three competitions" championship in his career.
Followed by Yan Bingtao, the "post-00" player broke out in 2021, defeating neil robertson, Stephen Maguire, Stuart Bingham and john higgins to win the snooker Masters. He is the second youngest athlete to win the Masters Championship, second only to Ronnie O’Sullivan, who won the championship in 1995 at the age of 19.
▲ Zhao Xintong. Image source/network
Even Luning and Li Hsing, who are not ranked high, have reached the final of the ranking tournament when they are in excellent condition. Veteran Liang Wenbo won the English Open in 2016.
Media: Living in the UK is fragmented and loosely managed.
For this match-fixing case, Observer.com once commented that this incident reminded all China snooker players that no matter how bad the atmosphere in the international arena is and how good the immediate interests are, the behavior that violates sports ethics is the red line and cannot be touched. Like all other sports, only a healthy, positive and fair environment can help snooker develop better in China.
According to the analysis of Beijing Youth Daily, most of the China snooker players in their perennial life in the UK were originally on their own, and the management was relatively loose. Most of the players themselves bear the expenses of studying abroad, playing and living, and there are not too many strict constraints. In this case, some bad habits are bred in the hands of the ball, and even behaviors that violate morality and the rules of snooker are difficult to be detected in time, and they can only rely on self-discipline. Coupled with the fact that the prize money of the world snooker tournament is low in recent years, the harsh survival forces the players to take risks, which leads to sad results. The heavy penalty for them also sounded the alarm for other players.
Young man Si Jiahui: A glimmer of "the darkest hour"
According to Zhongxin. com, the 2023 World Snooker Championships closed on the 2nd Beijing time, and the latest world ranking of snooker was also released.
China’s Zhao Xintong ranked 11th, the highest in the China Legion, and Yan Bingtao ranked 23rd. Unfortunately, however, both players were banned for one year, eight months and five years for this accusation of match-fixing. China’s players, Ding Junhui can be called "the only one left" among the famous players, still ranked 17th, and is expected to return to TOP16 (the top 16 in the world) in the new season. However, China teenager Si Jiahui, who reached the semi-final of this World Championships, rose 44 places in a row, from the 80th place before the competition to the 36th place.
▲ Si Jiahui. Image source/Xinhua News Agency
In addition, the top 60 players from China are: Zhou Yuelong 27th, Fan Zhengyi 34th, Pang Junxu 35th, Cao Yupeng 42nd, Xiao Guodong 43rd, Lv Haotian 47th, Wu Yize 51st, Yuan Sijun 52nd, Tian Pengfei 55th and Zhang Anda 60th. It seems that it will take some time for these young players to rank among the top players in the world.
Attachment: Penalty decision made by WPBSA (partial)
Liang Wenbo was sentenced to a life-long ban on snooker and paid a fee of 43,000 pounds.
Liang Wenbo was found to have violated the code of conduct, as follows:
He manipulated or participated in manipulating five snooker matches from July 24th to September 28th, 2022.
From July 24 to December 13, 2022, he recruited, induced, lured, persuaded, encouraged or assisted players to manipulate 9 games.
During the period from September 1, 2019 to December 31, 2022, he made bets on the snooker competition in violation of regulations.
He threatened another player and asked him to delete the information on his mobile phone, which was corrupt.
He threatened another player and tried to persuade him not to assist WPBSA in the investigation.
On or after September 1, 2022, when he knew about WPBSA’s investigation, he covered up or tried to cover up his participation in match-fixing by deleting the information on his mobile phone and asking other players to delete the information on their mobile phones.
He didn’t cooperate with WPBSA investigation, didn’t attend the interview and provided the materials required by WPBSA investigation.
2. Li Hsing was sentenced to be banned from participating in snooker competitions for life and paid a fee of 43,000 pounds.
Li Hsing was found to have violated the code of conduct, as follows:
He manipulated or participated in manipulating five snooker matches from July 24th to September 29th, 2022.
During the period from July 24th to December 13th, 2022, he solicited, induced, lured, persuaded, encouraged or assisted players to manipulate seven snooker matches.
During the period from September 1, 2019 to December 31, 2022, he made bets on the snooker competition in violation of regulations.
On or after September 1, 2022, when he knew about WPBSA’s investigation, he covered up or tried to cover up his participation in match-fixing by deleting the information on his mobile phone and asking other players to delete the information on his mobile phone.
3. Luning was sentenced to an eight-year ban, which was reduced to five years and four months until April 6, 2028 after his cooperation and guilty plea, and he paid a fee of 7,500 pounds.
Luning was found not to be involved in inducing others to manipulate the game. He accepted the following charges:
In the 2014-2015 season, he manipulated three snooker competitions he participated in.
On July 23, 2022, he manipulated a snooker competition he participated in.
During the period from September 1, 2019 to December 31, 2022, he made bets on the snooker competition in violation of regulations.
On or after September 1, 2022, when he knew about WPBSA’s investigation, he covered up or tried to cover up his participation in game fixing by deleting the information on his mobile phone.
4. Yan Bingtao was sentenced to seven years and six months’ ban, which was reduced to five years until December 11, 2027 after his cooperation and guilty plea, and he paid a fee of 7,500 pounds.
Yan Bingtao accepted the following charges:
He manipulated a game he participated in on August 29, 2016.
He manipulated three snooker competitions he participated in between March 3, 2022 and September 29, 2022.
During the period from September 1, 2019 to December 31, 2022, he made bets on the snooker competition in violation of regulations.
5. Zhao Xintong was sentenced to a ban of 2 years and 6 months, which was reduced to 1 year and 8 months until September 1, 2024 after his cooperation and guilty plea, and he paid a fee of 7,500 pounds.
Zhao Xintong accepts the following charges:
On March 3 and March 11, 2022, he was the party of two snooker matches manipulated by another player.
During the period from September 1, 2019 to December 31, 2022, he made bets on the snooker competition in violation of regulations.
The defendant may appeal against the decision of the disciplinary court before June 20, 2023.
The upstream news is integrated from the news on Zhongxin. com, Beijing Youth Daily Observer Network and Jinling Evening News.
Editor: Xu Yuanzhe
Editor: Yang Li Guan Yi
Audit: Feng Fei
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