Snooker’s umbrella organization World Snooker announced on Monday that one of the biggest future promises of the sport Yan Bingtao has been closed from competition due to suspicion of match-fixing.
The topic is currently sensitive. Only last Friday, snooker’s umbrella organization announced that it had suspended five Chinese players, Lu Ning’s, Li Hang’s, Zhao Jianbon, Bai Langning and Chang Bingyun.
Ning, 28, is a ranking finalist for this season’s Champions League and a semi-finalist for the 2020 UK Championship, a major tournament. Hang, 32, is a semi-finalist for the 2020 Scottish Open.
Bingtao, 22, is the most recent case by name. He won the invitational tournament Masters in January 2021 and can be found on the latest world list at number 16.
Finland’s only snooker professional Robin Hull summarizes the cases succinctly: no smoke without fire.
– There couldn’t be worse news for this game. At this point, the association is almost 100% sure that something has happened. Now we just have to find out how deep the tentacles go. Especially such a top player would not be taken away otherwise, says Hull.
Crazy months
Snooker’s umbrella organization’s problems with player behavior are not limited to December news.
October 27 Chinese player Liang Wenbo was subject to a still valid non-competition ban. Wenbo, 35, is a 2015 UK Championship finalist and 2016 English Open winner.
All the above-mentioned cases are connected by the suspicion of match-fixing. Only 128 players have the right to play on the professional snooker tour, so within a few weeks 5.5 percent of the players are closed from competitive activities.
Bans from competition are temporary and subject to appeal. The umbrella organization has not stated in its press release what timetable the investigations initiated against the players will be completed.
Thai in November Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon was banned from the professional tour for six years.
The punishment was halved because Tirapongpaiboon admitted to manipulating the results of six matches between 2013 and 2015 and assisted the umbrella organization in the investigation. He is eligible to attempt a return to the professional tour in 2025.
Visible game, poor players
Hull, 48, debuted as a professional in 1993 and dropped out of the tour in 2019. At the beginning of the tour, there was not a single Chinese player, but at the end there were already 24 of the 128 players. That is, 19 percent.
– There have often been rumors among the player community that the Chinese have talked about possible match-fixing. At times. The unfortunate fact is that some have become real with the bans, says Hull.
The biggest breakthrough occurred at the turn of the 2010s, when the number of professional competitions increased significantly. Nowadays, snooker enjoys unprecedented international visibility as a sport, but this is not reflected in the players’ merits, except at the top of the pyramid.
According to Stat.fi, the median salary in Finland was 2968 euros per month in January. On an annual basis, we are therefore talking about a good 35,000 euros. In snooker, out of 128 professionals, 71 players made it to the median salaries of Finns last season, but for them, just playing on the professional tour, including travel, accommodation and other expenses, costs almost 20,000 euros.
The majority of professionals therefore live from hand to mouth. In addition, today’s newcomers have to travel a more difficult path to the top than the current stars of the sport, as Urheilu has revealed in several articles.
– I’m not trying to justify this in any way, but I’m trying to emphasize how greed can affect a player. In that sense, I can understand, or they say I can’t understand, but don’t be surprised, says Hull.
A long history of gambling
Today’s snooker is still dominated by the generation that debuted as professionals in 1992. At that time, gambling was still strongly present in snooker halls. Since then, the sport has strived and mostly got rid of its problematic culture.
The roots are still deep.
The first match-fixing suspicions date from the 1980s. A South African at the time Silvino Francisco was arrested but released due to insufficient evidence.
The first manipulation that led to a penalty is from 2005. At that time, an Australian Quentin Hann was banned for eight years.
The longest ban in snooker history dates back to 2012, when the umbrella organization imposed a ban on the Englishman To Stephen Lee I wear it for 12 years.
However, the concept of match manipulation in the World Snooker rulebook is broad. If a player is approached for the purpose of match-fixing and the player does not inform the umbrella organization about it, it is a punishable act.
A Scotsman who belongs to the superstars of the sport John Higgins was banned from competition for six months in 2010 and had to pay fines over 70,000 euros. Higgins did not report the fake operation organized by the News of The World magazine, which the magazine tried to show that Higgins was prone to match manipulation.
A top Welsh player Jamie Jones was banned for a year in 2016. World Snooker was able to prove that Jones was aware of the match-fixing attempt, but Jones had not informed the umbrella organization about it.
– Is it the same with Bingtao? It will be interesting to see what his case is about, says Hull.
Hull emphasizes that when it comes to snooker, the Asian betting market is significantly more open and of a completely different size than the European one.
– In China, it is possible to bet on a sport like snooker with big money, while in the European system, the system alerts red for a few hundred bets, says Hull.
A smaller tour
In order for the future of snooker to be as bright as possible, Hull hopes that the professional tour of 128 players will be reduced with a heavy hand – that is, if the sponsor money coming into the game does not increase and the income level of the players improves.
According to Hull, the lowest income level should be 50,000 euros per year on the professional tour. Less than half of the players on the current tour reach it.
Hull supports the idea where the tour would be divided into two parts, the Main Tour and the second division. In this case, the umbrella organization could create a pathway for the players to gradually develop towards the top.
Hull says he is very concerned about the current state of the amateur game.
– There should definitely be a narrower Main Tour, an elite series. And then to be a strong second divar.