Match-fixing Chinese players suspended and fined

BRISTOL: Two Chinese snooker players were handed long bans for fixing matches in one of the sport’s biggest corruption scandals.

Yu Delu and Cao Yupeng admitted to manipulating the scores of matches they played in certain ranking tour naments from 201517, following an investigation resulting from suspicious betting patterns in the Far East.

Delu, ranked No. 52, was handed a suspension of 10 years and nine months, and ordered to pay costs of £20,000 (RM107,000) on Saturday. He was involved in fixing five matches across five tournaments over a period of two years to earn money for himself and friends, and also admitted to lying to investigators and betting on snooker when banned from doing so.

Yupeng, ranked No. 44, was banned for six years – with three years of that ban suspended – for fixing the outcome of three of his matches in 2016, including one at the prestigious UK Championship. His suspension was reduced from six years because he showed remorse. He had to pay costs of more than £15,000 (RM80,000).

They are the longest suspensions for fixing since English player Stephen Lee was banned for 12 years in 2013. Delu would have received a ban of the same length had he not decided late in the investigation to plead guilty.

The disciplinary panel of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), which announced the bans, said Delu took “the initiative in offering match-fixing services” and, in one match, “the stakes placed on the result were £65,000 (RM346,000) and would have generated a profit of £86,000 (RM458,000).”

“The misconduct of Delu represents a scourge to the game of snooker,” the panel said.

Delu won two of the five matches he agreed to fix, having arranged for the correct score to be 4-3 in frames to either player. Yupeng lost all three of the matches he agreed to fix.

“It is very sad,” WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson said, “when talented players are attracted to the opportunity to make money from fixing matches.” — AP