Text/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Su Xing
Ten Chinese snooker players suspected of manipulating the game have been fermenting since the beginning of the year, and the last boot has finally landed. The World Federation of Taiwan Affairs announced the punishment results for ten players on the 7th, Liang Wenbo and Li Xing suffered a lifetime ban, and Yan Bingtao, Zhao Xintong, Lu Ning, Zhao Jianbo, Bai Langning, Chang Bingyu, Chen Zifan, and Zhang Health, who originally had bright prospects, suffered suspension penalties ranging from 1 year and 8 months to 5 years.
These ten players were originally the backbone of Chinese snooker, Liang Wenbo and Ding Junhui were on par with Ding Junhui in the international arena, Yan Bingtao was known as the successor of "Ding Junhui", Zhao Xintong ranked as high as 9th in the world, and a number of up-and-coming "post-00" players, their huge Chinese legion frequently attacked the final four of various snooker ranking tournaments and even won the championship, breaking the British domination of the sport. However, the introduction of the strictest "ban order" in history has caused a collective collapse in the efforts of the long-standing Chinese snookers. The image is seriously frustrated, development is stagnant or even regressive, and Chinese snooker will pay a heavy price for this.
Liang Wenbo
The number of details in the survey results is staggering
The World Federation of Taiwan Affairs released a 58-page investigation report issued by the Independent Investigation Committee, which detailed the ins and outs of the investigation into the match-fixing case, and many of the facts were shocking.
The investigation results show that the eldest Liang Wenbo has manipulated or participated in manipulating the results and scores of snooker matches five times, participated in betting many times, and lured and encouraged other snooker players to manipulate the results or scores of snooker matches nine times, pressured young players after the incident, threatened them not to cooperate with the investigation, and adopted a confrontational attitude towards the investigation of the World Taiwan Federation, so the World Taiwan Federation "did not hesitate" impose a lifetime ban on Liang Wenbo.
In the listed cases, we can clearly see the leading and organizational role played by Liang Wenbo here. Taking the battle between Chang Bingyu and Jamie Jones at the British Open on September 28, 2022 as an example, the results of the investigation read: "Liang Wenbo called Chang Bingyu on the morning of the match, asked the latter in a threatening tone whether he was willing to manipulate the match, and said that he had placed a large bet, and Chang Bingyu agreed to his request in fear." Liang Wenbo promised to give Chang Bingyu 50,000 yuan, but Chang Bingyu did not receive the money after losing the match 1-4 as required. In addition, the investigation results also showed that Liang Wenbo threatened Chang Bingyu to delete relevant evidence after the incident.
Liang Wenbo also twice asked Chinese player Cao Yupeng to deliberately lose, and once induced another Chinese player, Xu Si, to manipulate the results of the British Open match against Trump, but fortunately Cao Yupeng and Xu Si strictly refused his request, otherwise the number of Chinese players involved would further increase.
Li Xing acted as Liang Wenbo's accomplice in a number of incidents, personally manipulating 5 matches and encouraging others to manipulate the results of 7 matches.
Yan Bingtao was once the most promising player in Chinese snooker and the first "post-00" player in history to win three major tournaments. But the investigation report shows that he was first suspected of manipulating the game seven years ago, when he was only 16 years old. In the end, Yan Bingtao was banned for five years for manipulating or participating in manipulating the results or scores of snooker matches four times, and betting on multiple times.
Zhao Xintong was the lightest player to be punished in this match-fixing case, having twice participated in manipulating the results or scores of snooker matches and placing bets on several occasions. However, the investigation report of the World Federation of Taiwan Affairs shows that Zhao Xintong is the only player under investigation who did not personally manipulate the game, "his participation is limited to betting for Yan Bingtao through Li Xing", that is because he and Yan Bingtao have known friends since they were 16 years old, and he has also tried twice to dissuade Yan Bingtao from participating in match-fixing, but was unsuccessful, "there is no choice, he can only bet for him according to Yan Bingtao's request", considering that Zhao Xintong showed sincere remorse for his actions, the World Taiwan Federation banned him for 1 year and 8 months. The ban period will expire on September 1, 2024.
Zhao Xintong
The haze of gambling has long gripped snooker
In fact, this is not the first time that the World Taiwan Federation has issued a ban ticket. In 2013, then-world number five Stephen Lee was sentenced to a 12-year ban for allegedly match-fixing in seven matches. Higgins, one of the "75 Three", and former world champion Bingham have also been banned by the World Taiwan Federation for allegedly manipulating the game. Last year, Thailand's Thanavat also received a six-year ban for manipulating the results of six matches.
Chinese players had a match-fixing scandal five years ago, when Chinese players Yu Delu and Cao Yupeng were investigated successively, the former participated in manipulating the results of five matches, and did not cooperate with the investigation, was sentenced to 10 years and 9 months ban, Cao Yupeng manipulated three matches, but because of active cooperation with the investigation and sincere repentance, he was finally only banned for 2 years and 6 months.
The sport of snooker has long been disturbed by match-fixing incidents, which is related to the more delicate nature of snooker, and it is not easy for onlookers to judge whether a shot is a mistake or a match-fixing. In addition, although it is called "aristocratic sports", as the audience ages, snooker gradually declines in the UK, and prize money has plummeted, such as the most influential World Championships, the championship prize is only 500,000 pounds, in stark contrast to tennis, golf and other millions of prize money.
This time, a large number of young Chinese players fell into the trap of gambling, on the one hand, they were lured and threatened by the bad demonstration, lure and threat of older players such as Liang Wenbo, and on the other hand, economic factors were the biggest bait for them to go astray. Some young players' bonuses cannot support daily life, training and competitions, especially in recent years, many snooker events in China have been canceled, in order to maintain rankings, professional qualifications and obtain bonuses, they have to stay in the UK for a long time to train and play, under the imbalance of income and expenditure, and finally take a desperate step into the abyss of irreparable disaster.
Ding
"Zero tolerance"! The China Association of Taiwan Compatriots urgently needs to reshape its image
The World Federation issued the most severe fine in history, and the China Billiards Association then issued an announcement of "zero tolerance" for match-fixing, saying that it would carry out warning education in the whole industry and launch a series of measures to carry out anti-gambling and counterfeiting to the end. Whether it is for the world snooker movement or the Chinese snooker movement, it reflects the determination to scrape the bones and heal the wounds, after all, whether the atmosphere can be cleaned up and the sportsmanship returned to purity is related to the survival of the sport.
However, bans alone cannot save the future of snooker, and the World Federation needs to give more sincerity for reform, such as improving the treatment of players, improving the ranking mechanism, etc., and giving more support to young players, so that the sport can maintain healthy development.
For the Chinese snooker movement, the ban is a painful lesson. After all, behind these ten players lies the efforts of a generation of snookers for more than ten or twenty years. Twenty years ago, snooker was perceived as a grassroots, street game, and children playing ball were seen as playthings. With Ding's rise on the international scene, it has changed people's prejudices about the sport. Since then, Chinese snooker has ushered in a golden period of vigorous development, and a group of young players, led by their parents, have devoted themselves to training and competitions with great enthusiasm. At the same time, the Association of Taiwan Affairs of the People's Republic of China has worked closely with the World Federation of Taiwan Compatriots to introduce many large-scale international competitions and youth competitions into China, providing a platform for long-term competition. In addition, the World Snooker Academy landed in Beijing, which also trained a large number of excellent Chinese snooker players. Therefore, in the past decade, China's outstanding snooker players have been blowing out.
But this ban has brought the careers of the best Chinese golfers to an abrupt end, or they have to temporarily put down their clubs at the most golden age, which is a pity and regret for them or for Chinese snooker. More importantly, the incident has severely damaged the image of Chinese snooker, to a certain extent, affecting the enthusiasm of many beginners and the confidence of parents to let their children devote themselves to the sport.
In addition, the ban of a large number of Chinese star players will also affect the confidence and enthusiasm of the Chinese tournament market to a certain extent, making the survival of Chinese snooker players more difficult, forming a bad cycle in the long run, and such negative effects will exist objectively for a long time. How to rebuild market confidence and increase support and management for players training and competition in the UK, the Chinese Taiwan Association should also come up with specific improvement plans to prevent similar incidents from happening again. (For more news, please pay attention to Yangcheng Pai pai.ycwb.com)
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Image | Visual China
Responsible Editor | Chai Zhi
Editor: Chai Zhi