Forgotten snooker star BANNED from sport set to return in amateur tournament as suspension lifted

A CHINESE snooker player embroiled in last year’s match-fixing storm is eligible to enter amateur competition after his ban expired on Monday.

Zhao Xintong – winner of the UK Championship in 2021 – was one of 10 players banned from the sport in the summer of 2023.

The former world No.6 was given a backdated one-year and eight-month suspension, the lightest of all the sanctions handed out, and ordered to pay £7,500 in costs.

Xintong, 27, accepted that twice in March 2022 he was a party to another player fixing two snooker contests.

And separately, he also bet on matches in breach of the rules over a three-year period.

Now his suspension has been lifted, he is free to compete in non-professional tournaments, starting with this month’s Q Tour event in Sofia, Bulgaria.

From next May he can enter Q School in an attempt to win back his Tour Card to play alongside the likes of world No.1 Judd Trump or reigning world champion Kyren Wilson.

Chinese officials slapped longer suspensions on all the players but that only applies to mainland China.

A spokesperson for the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) said: “Zhao will have served the suspension imposed by the Independent Disciplinary Commission by September 1, 2024, and he has paid his costs order.

“This means that he is eligible to play in WPBSA governed events from September 2nd.”

Two of the ten players – ringleaders Liang Wenbo and Li Hang – were handed lifetime bans for their role in the sport’s biggest match-fixing scandal.

The eight others were given suspensions that totalled up to 27 YEARS.