Former snooker star Liang Wenbo reached the World Championship quarter-finals before being permanently banned from the sport. The 38-year-old was one of two players along with Li Hang to be permanently expelled from snooker in 2023 after being found guilty of multiple match-fixing offences.
Eight other Chinese players were suspended for between four months and five years in what marked snooker’s biggest corruption scandal to date, with 2025 World Snooker Championship winner Zhao Xintong being one of them. But while Zhao has enjoyed a successful comeback after a 20-month sentence, Liang and Li, receiving the heaviest punishments, means they will never return to action. Liang first impressed back in 2008, when he made a surprise run to the World Championship quarter-finals. There, he faced the legendary Ronnie O’Sullivan and suffered a 13-7 loss.
The only ranking title victory of his career came at the English Open in 2016, where he beat Judd Trump. Current world No. 1 Trump also lost 9-8 in Sunday’s Northern Ireland Open final to Jack Lisowski to lose out on the £100,000 winners’ prize money.
Meanwhile, Liang’s career was cut short following allegations of fixing or being involved in fixing five snooker matches between July and September 2022, which he was later deemed guilty of. He was also found to have encouraged fellow players to fix nine matches as well as breaking further rules by placing bets on matches.
Liang, who reached a career-high world ranking of No. 11 in 2016, was ranked No. 72 by the time his ban was imposed. It was also discovered that he’d threatened another player and failed to cooperate with the ranking body’s investigation, even deleting messages from his phone.
“This has been a very complex case,” WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson said at the time. “It has been heartbreaking to see some young talented players fall foul of the WPBSA conduct regulations through pressure exerted by two senior players.
“This behaviour has been recognised as wholly unacceptable by the imposition of two lifetime bans from participating in recognised snooker in any way. Those who try to corrupt sport are constantly trying to find new ways to avoid our monitoring processes and this outcome must be taken as a lesson to those who think they can avoid detection.
“If any player is involved in fixing a snooker match, they will be caught and will face severe penalties. I am pleased that the commission found that they did not see from the present case ‘any evidence of a wider culture of wrongdoing in snooker’.
“The WPBSA will continue its strong stance against those who try to manipulate sport and today’s outcome sends out a clear message that match fixing will not be tolerated in snooker.”
