There is a snooker corruption crisis that is allegedly including young players receiving threats to their family members in order to purposefully lose matches.
Snooker bosses have accused ten Chinese players of various offenses in the largest match-fixing scandal in the history of the game.
Future world champions Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong are two of the most well-known athletes who are presently under suspension by the WPBSA, the body that oversees the sport, as part of an unprecedented probe.
Liang Wenbo, Lu Ning, Li Hang, Chang Bingyu, Zhang Ziakang, Chen Zifan, Bai Langning, and Zhao Jianbo are the other eight players that have cases to resolve.
Every player that has been benched during the investigation is based in Britain, and according to The Times, some of the children involved in the investigation may have been singled out.
In addition, the report states that the Gambling Commission is considering whether to file a police report in light of the potential for involvement with organized crime. Liang, the former winner of the English Open, is accused of “being concerned in fixing matches and approaching players to fix matches on the World Snooker Tour, seeking to obstruct the investigation and failing to cooperate with the WPBSA investigation.” Liang was suspended on October 27 and has previously been banned by the WBPSA due to an assault conviction.
Furthermore, Chang, a young player suspended, claims Liang threatened to lose his September British Open match against Jamie Jones. Chang, 20, said that Liang, 35, had scared him into losing his match against Jones, 4-1, because he was afraid.
Liang was accused in a tweet that has since been removed from Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. “Liang Wenbo called me in a threatening tone on the morning of the game, saying he was ‘in’ my game against Jamie Jones,” Chang stated.
“I was afraid that he had bet so much money. If I didn’t agree, he would make trouble for me, so I had no choice but to agree. I was very scared.”
Meanwhile, former Masters winner Yan and UK Champion Zhao, both also facing fixing allegations, are said to be having some of their matches studied. Last year’s German Masters final, where Zhao defeated Yan 9-0 in a whitewash in Berlin, is said to be of interest to investigators.
