'Completely foolish' - Jason Ferguson fires warning as match-fixing probe extends to Yan Bingtao

ByEurosport

Updated 12/12/2022 at 15:46 GMT

Jason Ferguson told Eurosport that it would be “completely foolish” for any player to consider match-fixing. The WPBSA chairman was talking to Eurosport after World No. 16 Yan Bingtao became the latest player suspended from attending or competing on the World Snooker Tour. Yan is the seventh player to be suspended as the sport's authorities probe match-fixing.

'Completely foolish' - Ferguson fires warning as match-fixing investigation extends to Yan

WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson has said that any player that thinks they can get away with match-fixing is “completely foolish.”

Ferguson was speaking to Eurosport after former Masters champion Yan Bingtao was suspended from competing on the World Snooker Tour with immediate effect.

The World Snooker Tour said in a statement that the suspension was in relation to “an ongoing investigation into allegations of manipulating the outcome of matches for betting purposes.” He is the seventh player to be suspended in relation to the probe.

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Former English Open champion Liang Wenbo was suspended by snooker chiefs in October, while five other players – Lu Ning, Li Hang, Zhao Jianbo, Bai Langning and Chang Bingyu – were suspended last week.

Speaking to Eurosport ahead of the English Open on Monday, Ferguson said that Yan was suspended after new information came to light.

“Suspensions went ahead last week of some players,” said Ferguson. “Throughout [that process] we were presented with some new evidence, which meant that we needed to interview Yan Bingtao.

“Yan Bingtao turned up this morning and he was interviewed at length by Nigel Mawer, our head of integrity. And as a result of that interview and discussions, I took the decision to suspend Yan Bingtao with immediate effect, pending any outcome of this investigation or any potential disciplinary proceedings which may follow.”

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Ferguson indicated that the investigation could be concluded sooner rather than later, and said that any players who thought they could get away with match-fixing were “completely foolish”.

“We're a long way down the road with this investigation,” added Ferguson.

“We're constantly monitoring markets and everything else. We know what's going on. And if any player thinks they can get away with it [match-fixing], by the way, they're completely foolish because we can find it easily.

“It won't take as long as you think - I think we are quite well down the road.

“It is not a good look for us, but we are a sport that chooses to deal with it. We are a sport that chooses to put it out in the public domain. We will not have it talked about behind the scenes.

“Expose it, get it out there, deal with it, and we can move on with the professional sport that we've got.”

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