A CHINESE snooker participant embroiled in final yr’s match-fixing storm is eligible to enter beginner competitors after his ban expired on Monday.
Zhao Xintong – winner of the UK Championship in 2021 – was certainly one of 10 gamers banned from the game in the summertime of 2023.
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The previous world No.6 was given a backdated one-year and eight-month suspension, the lightest of all of the sanctions handed out, and ordered to pay £7,500 in prices.
Xintong, 27, accepted that twice in March 2022 he was a celebration to a different participant fixing two snooker contests.
And individually, he additionally guess on matches in breach of the foundations over a three-year interval.
Now his suspension has been lifted, he’s free to compete in non-professional tournaments, beginning with this month’s Q Tour occasion in Sofia, Bulgaria.
From subsequent Could he can enter Q College in an try to win again his Tour Card to play alongside the likes of world No.1 Judd Trump or reigning world champion Kyren Wilson.
Chinese language officers slapped longer suspensions on all of the gamers however that solely applies to mainland China.
A spokesperson for the World Skilled Billiards and Snooker Affiliation (WPBSA) stated: “Zhao may have served the suspension imposed by the Impartial Disciplinary Fee by September 1, 2024, and he has paid his prices order.
“Because of this he’s eligible to play in WPBSA ruled occasions from September 2nd.”
Two of the ten gamers – ringleaders Liang Wenbo and Li Grasp – have been handed lifetime bans for his or her function within the sport’s largest match-fixing scandal.
The eight others got suspensions that totalled as much as 27 YEARS.