MATCH-FIXING BANS FOR CHINA DUO
Yu kicked out for 10 years and Cao also pays penalty after probe of suspicious betting patterns
China’s Yu Delu has been handed one of the heaviest punishments for match-fixing after the Shanxiborn player was banned from snooker for 10 years and nine months.
The 31-year-old, who reached his highest world ranking of 41 in May, was banned by the international governing body of snooker after the result of a two-year investigation into match-fixing.
Fellow mainlander Cao Yupeng received a six-year ban after he pleaded guilty to fixing, although 3 ½ years of his sentence was suspended. The Chinese pair are the first from the mainland to be banned for cheating. They were investigated after suspicious betting patterns in numerous matches were investigated over a two-year period. The duo had already been suspended from playing in May when the cases were being investigated.
Yu’s punishment is second only to Englishman Stephen Lee’s penalty in 2013 when he received a 12-year ban for match-fixing.
Lee made headline news this year when he was caught teaching snooker in Hong Kong without a work permit in June but the case was dismissed in court and he was allowed to return home, but bound over for 12 months for the sum of HK$1,000, meaning he is to refrain from committing or attempting to commit any crimes.
Yu, whose ban is believed to be one of the heaviest for a Chinese sportsman, is believed to have manipulated the outcome of five matches over a 2½-year period. The mainland player was also accused of lying to investigators and failing to cooperate with an inquiry.
Yu’s admission of fixing matches included losing to Kurt
Maflin at the Shanghai Masters in November last year, the last match of the five games he apparently fixed. The match-fixing involved betting in Asia.
Yu was considered one of the rising stars of Chinese snooker, having reached the semi-finals of the Scottish Open in 2016. He was ranked 43rd in the world when allegations of match-fixing first surfaced and when he came under investigation in May.
The 28-year-old Cao admitted fixing three games and was ranked 38 when he was initially suspended in May as well.
Snooker’s governing body, the
World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), investigated Yu and Cao before an independent tribunal ruled on their cases.
At the tribunal, Yu was found to have “engaged in deliberate and premeditated corruption to secure substantial financial gain for his friends/associates and himself”.
“It is very sad when talented players are attracted to the opportunity to make money from fixing matches,” WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson said.
In May, Ferguson said the sport’s integrity was in danger. “The decision to suspend any player immediately is a difficult decision to take.
“However, the WPBSA has a duty of care to ensure snooker’s global integrity is securely preserved, therefore my decision is to remove any question marks over the sport during the time it takes to bring these matters to formal proceedings.”