Snooker chief Jason Ferguson knows adding Yan Bingtao to the list of suspended Chinese stars has done the sport no favours in terms of headlines this week at the English Open – but insists it was the only viable course of action.
Yan, 22, and a former Masters champion, became the most high-profile of seven players that are temporarily banned from competition over an investigation into match-fixing - just ahead of his scheduled match on Monday in Brentwood against Ashley Hugill.
That follows the suspension of Liang Wenbo in October, and then Lu Ning, Li Hang, Bai Langning, Chang Bingyu and Zhao Jianbo earlier in December.
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Bingtao Becomes Seventh Player To Be Suspended In Snooker Match-Fixing Probe
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WPBSA chairman Ferguson said: “It is damaging to the sport, the headlines we are seeing. But it would be more damaging to leave it and try to hide it. The only way to rid the sport of that damage is to deal with it as swiftly as possible.
“Any player in any sport these days and especially snooker that thinks they can manipulate matches for betting purposes…they will be found out. Everything is connected, and we have a sophisticated team and systems in place. They will get what they deserve.
“New evidence had come to light ahead of today in the investigation into manipulation of matches - which implicated Yan Bingtao.
“The player was interviewed this morning and as a result I took the decision to suspend him from competition pending the outcome of the investigation and any disciplinary proceedings that might result.
“All of the players are temporarily suspended, sanctions imposed by me as chairman. We take a zero tolerance approach to the manipulation of matches.
“We are experienced in investigations of this kind, we have a fantastic team headed by Nigel Mawer, our Head of Integrity, who has been working on this one for some time.
“We didn’t know how far it would go, and as the case has progressed more players have become involved. But none have yet been charged, prosecuted or found guilty of fixing matches.
“But they are implicated. And while that is the case, they are suspended. It is not a good look for the sport, but we are a sport that chooses to deal with it in public and be transparent.
“In general any player that thinks they can get away with match-fixing is a fool because we monitor everything and know what is going on, we can find things easily.
“Those people that buy a ticket to watch these games, they deserve to see live sport fought in the way it was meant to be played. That is why we have to deal with it.
“We are a long way down the road in this investigation and I think things will be moving quickly, and any developments will be made public.
“We take a very serious view of anything involving manipulation of matches at the WPBSA, and a zero tolerance approach.
“This has come as a shock. We educate players, especially new players when they come on tour about the possible dangers. And sometimes somebody might just get through.
“There are people all over the world trying to corrupt all sports, in some cases organised criminals. It is our job to keep snooker clean, and that is what we are trying to do.”
Four-time world champion Mark Selby, after a 4-3 win over Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham, said: “It’s tough for the sport. All I ever wanted to do as a young lad was play and win tournaments and do my best.
“So this doesn’t put the game in a great light – though we will have to wait and see what comes from the investigation.
“Our sport has a lot of great players, great ambassadors flying the flag. And anyone ultimately found guilty of match fixing – we don’t need them in the game.
“Anyone getting done for that needs to get a severe punishment. That would send out a message to anyone else down the line.”
On almost any other day in Essex the headlines would have been about the snow dump on Brentwood, freezing conditions in the arena after the heating broke down, and Shaun Murphy’s victory despite a horrendous travel nightmare from Dublin and two hours’ sleep.
Engineers were hard at work all day trying to remedy the problems affecting the main hall that occurred on probably the worst day it could have happened in the first staging of a full snooker ranking event.
Selby said of the temperature during his match: “It was freezing, the coldest I have ever been playing a match. It’s your hands…you lose all the feeling and touch.
“It was so tough, but the same for all. It was okay in other areas of the building, and I hope they can sort it before my next game.”
Meanwhile Murphy, after a 4-2 win against Anthony Hamilton that he only just made in time, said: “It was a good win, especially after the 24 hours I have had getting here. I am really chuffed.
“I left the house at 5pm in Ireland for an 8pm flight that was delayed until 10.45pm and then got cancelled. We then waited an hour and a half for our luggage.
“But rather than take the chance of re-booking with no guaranteed flight we went and got the car for the 2.15am ferry to Holyhead and drove all the way across to Brentwood. Luckily the traffic chaos on the M25 had cleared. Luckily I had, but I only had about two hours sleep on the ferry.”
