ALLEN: SPORT WILL FIGHT
MARK ALLEN has insisted snooker will recover from the biggest corruption scandal to rock the sport.
The sport has been dragged into the gutter after 10 Chinese players were charged with match-fixing offences on Wednesday.
Former Masters winner Yan Bingtao, last season’s UK champion Zhao Xintong (below), former English Open winner Liang Wenbo and compatriots Li Hang, Lu Ning, Zhang Jiankang, Chen Zifan, Chang
Bingyu, Zhao Jianbo and Bai Langning have all been charged with a varying levels of breaches.
Six players have been charged with matchfixing, while the other four have been charged with being concerned in fixing matches on the professional tour.
“It doesn’t look good for the sport, let’s be honest,” said UK champion Allen (above).
“It’s a very, very dark time for the sport.
“There will be shortterm damage, but the sport’s much bigger than any individual scandal. The sport will survive, it always will.
“Snooker will recover in the long run. It’s something that will probably never be forgotten, but the sport will move on.”
The ongoing corruption scandal overshadowed last week’s prestigious Masters with former UK and German Masters winner Xintong, the world No 9, and former Masters winner and No 16 Bingtao glaring omissions due to their suspensions.
And there’s a big fear among players that due process could drag on until the World Championship in April.
Two weeks of hearings, in front of an independent panel, are expected to take place in March — just a few weeks before the Crucible opens its doors on April 15.
Lengthy bans are expected for any player found guilty of fixing, with former World, Masters and UK champion Shaun Murphy having called for “lifetime” bans which, “by all intents and purposes, ends their careers”.
Former ranking event winner Stephen Lee was slapped with a 12-year ban in 2013 after being found guilty of seven counts of fixing.
And China’s Yu Delu is serving a 10-year and nine-month exile for fixing five matches and lying to investigators.
There are noises that organised crimes gangs could be at play behind the scenes, coercing players into corruption for financial gain.
But Allen stressed: “I think we should wait and see what happens and see why they done what they done.
“We all hear rumours around the tour and some of them aren’t good, so let’s see what comes out at the end.
“If they have out and out thrown matches for money then ban them, absolutely. They deserve everything they get.
“If there’s outside influences then I really feel for them. They still have to try and stamp that out going forward, but I feel for them if they’re put into that position.”
Late last night Allen was locked in a titanic battle with England’s Jack Lisowski in the World Grand Prix. In the first to five clash, the pair were level at three frames each.