Snooker Match Fixing Investigation - Yan Bingtao biggest name to be suspended

The Yan ban is news today.

Dave Hendon was saying before news of the Yan ban that the others will be out for the season now, and this will take some time to be investigated.

Liang Wenbo looks done for as a name in sport at this stage, what with his previous.

Not being able to get back into China for a tournament is a big concern now, and they'll have to start to move on and plan without China for the next 12-18 months, bringing in other venues to get the tour outside the UK like perhaps Scandinavia, Belgium, building in Turkey or an invitational event for Goffs maybe.

I actually find how widespread this is staggering. China finally starting to get a strong foothold at the top level of snooker and they go and blow it on something like this. Love to know how its all orchestrated, are these players approached one by one or do they just have one big meeting? Haha. I'm guessing Ding was approached at some stage during his career and turned them down, respect to Ding.

Zhao Xintong suspended now

An absolute disaster for Chinese snooker. Wipeout.

Crap.. any idea what will happen to the match v selby ?

It's going to be a huge scandal when the full details are revealed. 10/24 Chinese pros impacted, this sets back Chinese snooker a generation, will definitely damage the sports credibility.

Wonder if WPBSA could be in trouble too for not picking it up sooner.

Does anyone know why John Higgins got off so lightly (6 month ban) back in 2010 when that video emerged? His manager got a lifetime ban and Stephen Lee got a 12 year ban for something similar.

Yes, that excuse was up there with "the money was just resting in my account"

Ronnie openingly admitted in an interview/book that he was approached by certain individuals to fix matches in the past early in his career. But Ronnie's reply was 'Nah mate I couldn't do that' 'It is not in me'.

I would not be surprised if involves those Chinese Mafia/Triads threatening families etc.

But I hope it is sorted out quickly anyway, and ends up being a mountain made out of molehill.

Does anyone know the financing behind the Chinese players? My theory would be that they are well subsidised by the Chinese government in their development phase, which is why these teenagers/20 somethings are able to re-locate halfway around the world. We've all heard of Irish players who struggled to raise the funds to make a go of it in the UK, yet Chinese youngsters seem to be able to do it without any issue.

But the problem might be that the money is expected to be returned when they are successful, possibly on an ongoing basis (not just a case of clearing the original grant). I guess it depends on what sort of contract they signed with their backers.

So when they finally start earning (and as we know snooker is no goldmine for those ranked 17-70) they have to pay the UK taxman, normal living expenses plus a chunk to their original backers. You could see how it leaves them open to doing something shady on the side to make up for the money they might feel is being wrongfully docked. It may even be their only direct income.

So whilst matchfixing/spotfixing is obviously incredibly serious, I think the bigger issue is whether these players are actually independent entities in the way every sportsperson should be. But that may not be an investigation that the WSA has the capability of approaching.

Any professional sport involves scraping by until you achieve success. Everything from any Olympic sport through to professional rugby and soccer has professionals on pittance or working around casual work while they try to build a career. Even in individual sports with huge prizes on offer - Tennis, Golf, Boxing, MMA, there are hundreds of 'professionals' who earn nothing from their sport. Most of them never breakthrough, but they trade-off the no/low wages for the chance of glory and wealth (until the trade-off is no longer worth it, or they lose a sponsor, etc).

Carded snooker players being guaranteed £20k minimum for 2 years by the sport is in fact quite good, certainly for a minority sport. I think Ireland's Olympic hopefuls qualify for grants and I think the maximum amount is around €12k p.a., by comparison. Many candidates won't even qualify for the grant before they qualify for the Olympics; many are also in sports where money prizes are not significant (think rowing). I would also suspect many lower league / LOI type footballers never earn anything close to that per season - and that's in the most professional, well funded sport globally.

I know the £20k is a very new thing in snooker, but before the Chinese boys headed to the UK they would have known the expected income, the risk and reward, its part of the decision to pursue or not, same as entry into any professional sport.

I sincerely hope therefore that "financial circumstance" is not in any way allowed as an excuse here. As well as the reasons above, this scheme looks to have been systemic among a group of players (which makes it different to an individual acting alone) and some players like Bingtao, who has enjoyed much success, cannot really claim hardship.

I am only hoping there is some external, sinister element (like mafia involvement) to explain it. It will limit the damage on the sport, and will enable lighter punishment on the players (for not whistle-blowing as opposed to match fixing). If on the other hand all this was organised between the players (without any duress, and over a period of time), then I think 12 year suspensions - per precedent - is the minimum each player should expect.

I imagine we definitely won't hear any more until after the Masters, maybe not till after the Grad Prix (immediately following the Masters).

The "perpetrators are really victims" line of thought gaining lots of momentum I see. I would imagine the accused already have a story along those lines prepared and are attempting to portray themselves as such to the investigators. Multiple factors could potentially influence the outcome of this investigation, gonna be pretty interesting to see how it all plays out.

It's very disappointing no matter what way it turns out. Particularly for Yan bintao and zhoa xingtong, both of whom were really showing that they could compete and challenge for the big ones.

The much mocked interview with Rob walker in Yan Bingtao's house showed what the reality of life was for one of the more high achieving young Chinese players of the time was though. A normal terraced house around Sheffield. It wasn't very glamorous and must be difficult change in life and environment for young fellas with few close family and very little of the language. I can only imagine what it would be like to be landed in a regular house or apartment in a regional Chinese city in similar circumstances.

They all seemed to hang out together on a daily basis too while practising. Perhaps there are more sinister elements involved or perhaps in became a little normalised within the group as a handy way to earn a little extra money.

While I don't condone the behaviour and believe it should be punished appropriately should the case be proven I do feel some sympathy for them.

Again, not defending them but I'd have a couple of points.

Exhibitions? - what sort of money would players with limited English expect to get in exhibitions? A huge part of that circuit is turning up, having a bit of craic, telling a few risque stories, engaging the crowd. They can't do that so I suggest they'd be in the extreme bottom tier when it comes to exhibition demand.

Other work? - Would their visas even allow them to do other work? I'd suspect the UKHO is quite strict about what they can do. (To an extent this is also aimed at the poster Genghis who seemed to think the lowly-ranked could be like Irish semi-pros and do casual work to earn extra. That's a privilege not everyone has).

That WPSA statement does not look good at all.

Obstruction of justice, approaching other players, match fixing etc. Plus all the lads are Chinese. Could be seismic for the sport of snooker.

Just when it looked like Snooker had a bright future with the Chinese interest, more money, population etc. It looks like it is going to be the Chinese that will end up bringing the game of snooker backwards

Have World Snooker done/said anything about withdrawing all their competitions from the Chinese mainland ,that should be the 1st thing done,but like every other sport they'll go where the money is. It'll not get better for at least 5 years,there is literally no new names/youth coming through, still relying on the older generation