Alan McManus ‘proud’ of snooker’s ‘loud and clear’ response to match-fixing scandal as 10 players banned

Liang Wenbo and Li Hang were both handed lifetime bans for their involvement while eight other players, including former Masters champion Yan Bingtao and former UK Championship winner Zhao Xintong, have also been suspended.

Among the most serious offences were fixing matches, trying to get other players to fix matches, and threatening other players.

“It’s obviously disappointing,” said Eurosport expert McManus.

“But I know Nigel Mawer, who’s the head of integrity at World Snooker, and I knew that he was going to be ultra-stringent – doing the digging to find out what has been going on and leaving no stone unturned. And I think that proved to be the case.

“I’m proud of the governing body and the way they handled it.

“I know that in the modern world everything is so instant and everyone wants an answer yesterday, but because of how stringent the governing body have been it was going to take time.

“They left no stone unturned and again I’m really proud and I think every player and snooker fan should be proud of the governing body and the way they handled it.

“The message is loud and clear: ‘if you do it, you’re going to get caught’. It may take a year or two, it may take five years, or even seven or eight years, but you’re going to get found out.

“You just have to have a zero tolerance policy. And it’s clear that there is a zero tolerance policy as far as that’s concerned.”

The two most high-profile names among the 10 players banned were Yan and Zhao.

Yan was banned until December 2027 after accepted charges of fixing four snooker matches he played in and betting on matches, while Zhao was suspended until September 2024 after accepting charges of being a party to another player fixing two matches and betting on matches. Both their bans were reduced following early admissions and guilty pleas.

“Yan has obviously got a lot of thinking to do,” added McManus.

“I’m very disappointed because he was one of the star players in the top 16, but he was guilty of actually fixing his own matches it seems. For him the message is loud and clear.

“I was pleased for our sport about the Xintong ban.

“He is probably the most high profile of the 10 players and probably the most attractive to watch. I was pleased to see that he wasn’t affecting his own matches, he was just party to it and was aware that there were things going on, so they’ve been fairly lenient. But I think rightly so.

“He’s effectively going to miss about two years, but he’s young enough and good enough that I think he can come back.”

As for the two lifetime bans given out, McManus says “good riddance” to Wenbo and Hang.

“I read in the evidence that there was a lot of coercion going on. That’s the worst of the thing is Wenbo and Hang coercing other players. We can’t have that. We don’t need that. We don’t want it. And so I’m glad that they threw the book at Wenbo and Hang with the lifetime bans.

“It’s bad enough being aware of match fixing, it’s even worse fixing your own matches, but to go as far as trying to coerce some of the young players in these schemes, that is the lowest of the low and good riddance, they won’t be missed.”

Asked what snooker can do to prevent similar issues moving forward, McManus said: “I personally don’t think there is a big problem in the sport.

“We can’t be any clearer – you can’t do it.

“For a lot of people it is disappointing but on the other hand I think it’s good for the sport, the way that the findings and bans have been laid out. I think it’s good that we cannot be any clearer.”

FULL LIST OF BANS

• Liang Wenbo has been given a lifetime [ban] from snooker and is to pay £43,000 in costs.
• Li Hang has been given a lifetime [ban] from snooker and is to pay £43,000 in costs.
• Lu Ning has been given an 8 year suspension, reduced following early admissions and his plea of guilty, to 5 years and 4 months until 6 April 2028. He is to pay £7,500 in costs.
• Yan Bingtao has been given a 7 year and 6 months suspension, reduced following early admissions and plea of guilty, to 5 years until 11 December 2027. He is to pay £7,500 in costs.
• Zhao Xintong has been given a 2 year and 6 months suspension, reduced following early admissions and his plea of guilty, to 1 year and 8 months until 1 September 2024. He is to pay £7,500 in costs.
• Zhao Jianbo has been given a 3 year and 6 months suspension, reduced following early admissions and his plea of guilty, to 2 years and 4 months until 7 April 2025. He is to pay £7,500 in costs.
• Chang Bingyu has been given a 3 year suspension, reduced following early admissions and his plea of guilty, to 2 years until 7 December 2024. He is to pay £7,500 in costs.
• Bai Langning has been given a 4 year suspension, reduced following early admissions and his plea of guilty, to 2 years and 8 months until 6 August 2025. He is to pay £7,500 in costs.
• Chen Zifan has been given a 7 year and 6 months suspension, reduced following early admissions and his plea of guilty, to 5 years until 20 December 2027. He is to pay £7,500 in costs.
• Zhang Jiankang has been given a 4 year and 5 months suspension, reduced following early admissions and his plea of guilty, to 2 years and 11 months until 1 December 2025. He is to pay £7,500 in costs.