Why was Zhao Xintong banished by Snooker? The finalist star of the World Snooker Championship in the match-fixing scandal

Zhao Xintongs tries to win the first Chinese player today to win the world snooker championship.

The 28-year-old defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan von Snooker in an exceptionally composed semi-finals, in which he booked his last dust champion Mark Williams.

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Zhao produced a brilliant snooker game and demonstrated his crunchy cueing and his good position game to plunge to O'Sullivan's mistakes.

“Watch him – astonishing – he is one, could be the Roger Federer of Snooker,” said O'Sullivan, who was a long -time admirer of Xintong's talent, in an interview from 2019.

It is expected that he is the new superstars of sport with a triumph on the melting pot.

The 28-year-old plays as an amateur in Sheffield and had not participated in a professional competition since 2022 until season. But with a triple crown win under his belt, this is not a typical amateur snooker player.

Why was Zhao Xintong banished by Snooker?

The flowering career of Zhao was canceled in January 2023 when he was suspended in connection with a top -class examination of the game.

Between 2019 and 2022, the WPBSA owed him to manipulate and bet of games, but relieved him to actively fix his own games.

The outstanding problem with Snooker when ten Chinese players were accused of various stages of the game, and Liang Wenbo and Li Hang were finally banned from sport for life.

The WPBSA disciplinary committee, which carried out the hearing, described the attitude of former world No. 11 Liang as “particularly disgraceful”.

The two figures involved in the scandal were at the highest profile was the 2021 Masters winner Yan Bingtao, who currently banned a five-year ban by December 2027.

And Zhao, who was classified as a nine of the world at the beginning of his lock, added the title of the German Masters 2022 to his breathtaking British championship victory.

Zhao, who did not throw a match, recognized the allegations to support another player in setting up two games and bet on matches himself, for which he received a 20 -month sentence – reduced from the first 30.

He returned to the amateur -Q tour in September and won tournaments in Manchester, Sweden, Austria and Belgium as well as qualification for the British championship, where he lost in the opening round against Shaun Murphy.

“I made a little mistake two years ago and now I come back, so I know how important snooker is for me,” said Zhao, after having hit Walden to secure his place at the British championship last year.

“I would like to return to the Snooker table and get trophies. These are very large lessons for me, it makes me more appreciated that snooker.”