Snooker star who was banned after match-fixing investigation free to play from today
The former snooker world No. 6 has been cleared to return to professional sport.
Zhao Xintong, a UK Championship winner in 2021, has been given the all-clear to play professional snooker once again after his ban following a match-fixing investigation came to an end on Monday (September 2).
A total of 10 Chinese players were slapped with suspensions last year for their roles in rigging snooker matches, with allegations against them including manipulating games, approaching players to cheat, betting on snooker and fixing matches.
The scandal rocked snooker and plunged the sport into disrepute, while big names such as Liang Wenbo and Li Hang were given lifetime bans. Ex-Masters champion Yan Bingtao also received a seven-year suspension.
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Zhao was given the lightest punishment among the 10, his guilty plea for being concerned in fixing matches on the World Snooker Tour saw his punishment reduced from two years and six months to one year and eight months.
There had been some confusion over whether or not Zhao would be able to compete internationally after the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association upheld his original ban until July 2025.
But the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) has confirmed to Express Sport that he will be free to play in events on the Q Tour, with the potential to regain his tour card for the following season.
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A WPBSA statement read: "After an extensive WPBSA investigation Zhao Xintong admitted to being concerned in match-fixing at a hearing before an Independent Disciplinary Commission. In June 2023 he was sentenced to a suspension of one year and eight months and to pay costs of £7,500. The suspension was to run from when he was first suspended in January 2023.
“After this sentence, the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association (CBSA) imposed a longer suspension. The CBSA have now confirmed that their sanction only applies to mainland China and that Zhao Xintong is permitted to play in events outside of China from the end of his WPBSA suspension.
“Zhao will have served the suspension imposed by the Independent Disciplinary Commission by 1st September 2024, and he has paid his costs order. This means that he is eligible to play in WPBSA-governed events from 2nd September 2024."
Zhao will be off the professional tour for the rest of the season, but he is expected to try and reclaim his pro status for the 2025/26 season.
And the road for that comeback could begin this month, with the 2022 German Masters champion free to compete at the second Q Tour event of the season, in Bulgaria from September 20-22.
Zhao had been considered one of the finest prospects to come out of China prior to his suspension and could be back among the elite should he finish as the top-ranked player in Q Tour for the season, with more players able to earn that honour through a play-off system ahead of the campaign.
