Steve Davis slams ‘breathtaking level of stupidity’ of snooker stars suspended in MATCH-FIXING probe

They’re playing at the Palace this week, but snooker is by the wayside. The Masters is meant to be a showcase for the best of the sport.

However, it is the worst of the game that has been in the spotlight at the start of the prestigious tournament.

Only the 16 best players in the world are invited to take part in the Masters, one of snooker’s Triple Crown events alongside the World Championship and the UK Championship.

Yet two of that select group are missing from this year’s line-up at Alexandra Palace after being embroiled in the biggest match-fixing scandal to ever rock the sport.

Zhao Xintong, the world number 9 and winner of the 2021 UK Championship, and Yan Bingtao, the world number 16 and 2021 Masters champion, are the players conspicuous by their absence.

And they are just two of 10 Chinese stars suspended from the World Snooker Tour as part of the ongoing investigation into ‘allegations of match manipulation for betting purposes’, which is due to reach a conclusion soon and could see players hit with lengthy bans

The match-fixing investigation was first launched in October after the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) was alerted to suspicious betting activity. Liang Wenbo, the winner of the 2016 English Open, was the first player to be suspended.

His compatriots Lu Ning Li Hang, Zhao Jianbo, Bai Langning, Chang Bingyu, Chen Zifan and Zhang Jiankang have also been temporarily banned.

However, it is the suspensions of Zhao, who Ronnie O’Sullivan said last year could become “the greatest of all time”, and Yan that have hit snooker the hardest, and why a dark cloud loomed over Ally Pally when the Masters started yesterday. .

Three-time Masters champion and BBC pundit Steve Davis said: “If the allegations are proven to be true, it shows an impressive level of stupidity on the part of these players, but this still needs to be developed.”

‘It is shameful. I think all the players are aware of the situation and luckily the WPBSA is aware. What effect it has on the game is difficult to assess at this point.”

“Of course it’s very damaging,” Jason Ferguson, president of the WPBSA, told Sportsmail. But it is not as harmful as leaving it. We are a sport that deals with these things. We are not a sport that brushes anything under the rug.

It is in the public interest. The public has to know that every game played and every ball scored means something. They have to know that they are watching real sport live.

We will get to the bottom of the matter. We will make sure that this sport is 100 percent (clean). The purpose of these temporary suspensions is to ensure that events have absolute integrity at all times.

Zhao actually should have faced Mark Selby in the first round of the Masters last night, but, following his suspension last week, he was hastily replaced by Hossein Vafaei.

“It’s a really sad time for the sport and it’s not putting snooker in a great light,” admitted Selby, a three-time Masters champion.

Shaun Murphy, who starts the tournament against defending champion Neil Robertson, has called for any player found guilty of match-fixing to be banned for life. When asked about reports that Liang has already retired, he bluntly replied: “If he has, let him go.”

The longest previous ban handed down in snooker was the 12 years Stephen Lee received in 2012 after he was found guilty of seven counts of match-fixing. When asked about possible sanctions, Ferguson said: “Our rules clearly state that if a player deviates seriously, he can receive a lifetime ban from the sport.”

“But if you have a rule that says lifetime on everything, it doesn’t really work. We have to leave that up to the independent tribunal whether or not it will take place.’

It has been claimed that the alleged solutions involve criminal gangs. The exact matches under investigation have yet to be revealed publicly, but some details have leaked on social media.

The suspended Chang posted a now-deleted message on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo claiming that Liang ordered him to lose a British Open match to Jamie Jones 4-1, which he did.

“If I didn’t agree, it would cause me trouble, so I had no choice but to agree,” Chang wrote. ‘I can accept my punishment, but I was really scared at the time. I did not receive any money.

Chang also claimed that Liang told him to lie to investigators or there would be “trouble”, although in a post of his own, Liang has denied any involvement in match-fixing.

The WPBSA investigation is led by Nigel Mawer, a former Metropolitan Police Chief Detective Superintendent, and is based on data collected by sports technology company Sportradar.

“Snooker has one of the most serious and proactive integrity units in the sport, if not the most,” Tom Mace, director of global operations for Sportradar Integrity Services, told Sportsmail. ‘Our Universal Fraud Detection System is the leading gambling monitoring system on the market. We monitor the odds at over 600 bookmakers around the world for signs of irregular or suspicious betting.

‘A report from our monitoring system is now more or less accepted as reliable evidence that there has been a fixed match. This is confirmed by many disciplinary cases.’

Mace doesn’t think snooker has a bigger match-fixing problem than other sports, just that it’s better policed. However, he mentions factors that give the sport a ‘high risk’.

He added: ‘First of all, it’s the betting hedge. Snooker is a betting product that is consistently on offer and popular in a few key betting regions: the UK and Ireland, then China and Thailand.

‘Then you look at the betting coverage versus the financial status of the players. The first 16 are quite comfortable but by no means mega rich, then outside of the top tier they earn modest amounts. When you combine that with betting hedging, it means players are susceptible to outside approaches.

“The fact that it’s an individual sport also means, at least in theory, that it’s easier to fix because you don’t have to worry about corrupting multiple players.”

What is especially detrimental to the sport, both financially and reputationally, is the nationality of the players investigated. China is the world’s biggest snooker market and now more than a third of the 24 players on his tour are suspended.

At the same time, no international tournament has been organized in the country since 2019 due to Covid.

“China is a key market for us,” Ferguson added. ‘We still have every intention of offering world-class sport to Chinese fans.

‘This will not stop the sport. The sport is stronger than the current theme.’ And yet, in this moment, the sport has never felt weaker.