Zhao Xintong is returning to snooker after serving his ban for his part in a serious match-fixing scandal, although it will only be on the amateur circuit for now.
10 players were hit with bans in June last year, with Zhao handed the shortest of the punishments which expired on 1 September 2024.
The former UK Championship and German Masters champion had been found in breach of being party to another player fixing two matches and betting on snooker matches himself.
With his ban now at an end, the 27-year-old will enter the next Q Tour event, to be held from 20-22 September in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Q Tour is a series of amateur tournaments, with the top ranked player from the string of seven events earning a place on the professional circuit. There is also a Q Tour Global Playoff at the end of the season featuring players who have performed well over the campaign, with another place on the World Snooker Tour available to the winners.
The first event was held in Leeds last month – won by Estonia’s Andres Petrov – with the next in Bulgaria next week, followed by tournaments in Sweden, Manchester, Austria, Switzerland and Landywood.
Zhao will be hoping to do well enough in those competitions to earn himself a place on the World Snooker Tour for the next two years.
His first match back in the sport will be against Lithuania’s Vilius Schulte-Ebbert on Friday 20 September at 11am UK time.
The Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association (CBSA) took the step of extending the bans for the guilty players, with Zhao remaining banned until July 2025, although the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association has confirmed that only applies to mainland China.
‘The Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association has now confirmed that their sanction only applies to mainland China and that Zhao Xintong is permitted to play in events outside of China from the end of his WPBSA suspension,’ the WPBSA stated.
‘Zhao will have served the suspension imposed by the Independent Disciplinary Commission by 1st September 2024, and he has paid his costs order. This means that he is eligible to play in WPBSA-governed events from 2nd September 2024.’
Speaking to Metro last month, WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson said of Zhao: ‘He is young enough and talented enough to make a comeback in the sport. We also recognise that he got caught up in something in which he was perhaps not one of the main perpetrators.’
Four-time world champion John Higgins expects a swift return to the professional ranks for the two-time ranking event winner now he is back on the baize.
‘He’s served his time now,’ Higgins told the Daily Record. ‘He’s a great young talent for the game. He looked as if he was going to be one of the top players in the world. I’ve heard he’s still been practicing really hard and I’m sure he will fit back in seamlessly. He’s too talented not to get back on the tour.’
Of the other players suspended as part of the match-fixing scandal, Chang Bingyu is the next to see his ban end on 7 December 2024.
Yan Bingtao was the other major-winner to be banned, but he remains out of the game until 11 December 2027, while Liang Wenbo and Li Hang were handed lifetime bans.
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