In April 2022, Liang was convicted of domestic assault, after which the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) suspended him for four months. It suspended him again in October 2022 while investigating match-fixing allegations that later widened to implicate nine other Chinese players. A disciplinary tribunal found Liang guilty of multiple match-fixing offences as well as destroying evidence and not cooperating with the investigation. In June 2023, the WPBSA permanently banned Liang and compatriot Li Hang from the sport, the only two lifetime bans ever handed down in professional snooker. The Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association (CBSA) upheld the WPBSA's decision.
At the 2006 Malta Cup, he lost in the first qualifying round to Paul Davies 3–5.[15] At the 2006 China Open (snooker), he beat David McDonnell and Matthew Couch before losing against Adrian Gunnell 3–5 in the third qualifying round.[16] In qualifying for the 2005 World Snooker Championship, he lost to Joe Delaney 5–10 in the first qualifying round.[17] Liang ended his debut season on the professional tour ranked 78th, a position that would not guarantee a place in the following season's tour; however, he had finished inside the top 8 of the one-year ranking list of those who had not qualified, which gave him a place on the main tour for the next season.[18]
During the 2006–07 season, Liang reached at least the second round of qualifying in every ranking event. At the Northern Ireland Trophy, he beat Robert Stephen 5–0 before falling to David Gilbert 0–5 in qualifying.[19] At the Grand Prix, Liang came out on top of his qualifying group, above more experienced players such as Gerard Greene and Barry Pinches. He finished fourth in his group at the round-robin stage, and although he did not progress to the next round, he defeated world number one Stephen Hendry 3–0.[20] At the 2006 UK Championship, he lost in the second round of qualifying to Jamie Burnett 7–9.[21] In the following ranking event, the 2007 Malta Cup, he lost to Joe Jogia 3–5, again in the second round of qualifying.[22] He qualified for the 2007 Welsh Open, his third-ranking tournament, by beating Dene O'Kane, Jogia, and Mark Davis. He met Nigel Bond again in the last 48, this time losing 3–5.[23]
At the 2008 World Snooker Championship, Liang was the third Chinese player to qualify for the main draw, defeating Ben Woollaston, Rod Lawler, David Gilbert, and Ian McCulloch in the qualifying rounds.[33] He met former winner Ken Doherty in the first round and defeated him 10–5.[34] Leading 12–10 in the second round against Joe Swail, Liang prematurely celebrated winning the match after potting match ball, only to lose the frame. Swail came back to level the match at 12–12, but Liang won 13–12.[35] Liang faced Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-final, losing 7–13.[36] His run to the quarter-finals of the World Championship gained him 5,000 ranking points, as he finished 40th in the world at the end of the season.[32]
At the 2008 Northern Ireland Trophy, he beat Steve Davis and Peter Ebdon to reach the last 16, where he lost to John Higgins 1–5. This result lifted him to a career high of 26 in the world.[37] He reached the main draw of the 2008 Grand Prix by winning two qualifying matches, but then succumbed to O'Sullivan in the first round of the main draw.[38] Liang made his first professional maximum break and three other centuries in a 5–1 victory over Martin Gould in the third qualifying round of the Bahrain Championship.[39] However, he failed to qualify for the main draw, losing 2–5 to Michael Judge.[40]
For the two Chinese events on this season's tour, Liang's two qualifying matches were held over until the venue stages. At the 2008 Shanghai Masters, he defeated Atthasit Mahitthi and Mark Allen to reach the main draw but lost to Ryan Day 0–5 in the first round.[41] At the 2009 World Snooker Championship, after defeating Dave Harold 10–3 in the last qualifying round,[42] he lost 8–10 in the first round of the main draw against Ding.[43]
First ranking event final
In July 2009, Liang won his first professional title, the 2009 Beijing International Challenge, defeating world number two Stephen Maguire 7–6 in the final.[44] At the 2009 Shanghai Masters, he reached the final of his first ranking event, becoming the second Chinese player to do so (after Ding). He ultimately finished runner-up to O'Sullivan.[45][46]
Liang qualified for the 2009 Grand Prix (snooker) but was defeated 2–5 by Peter Ebdon in the first round, winning the first two frames and losing the last five in succession. Prior to this meeting, he had played Ebdon twice, winning 5–1 and 5–0.[47] He reached the quarter-finals of the 2009 UK Championship after defeating Ryan Day 9–3 and Mark King 9–2. He went on to lose 2–9 to John Higgins in the quarter-finals.[48] He failed to qualify for the 2010 Welsh Open and the China Open, as he lost 3–5 against Michael Judge and 2–5 against Andrew Higginson, respectively.[49][50] Liang qualified for the 2010 World Snooker Championship by defeating Rod Lawler 10–2.[51] He was drawn against O'Sullivan but lost 7–10.[52] Liang finished the season ranked 16th in the world.[53]
At the 2010 Wuxi Classic, he lost in the first round 2–5 against Marco Fu.[54] He participated in the 2010 Beijing International Challenge to defend his first professional title, but lost in the semi-finals 4–6 against eventual winner Tian Pengfei.[55] Liang failed to qualify for the World Open, as he lost 1–3 against Andrew Higginson and lost his first round match at the Shanghai Masters 3–5 against Matthew Stevens.[54] Having started the season inside the top 16, his results were not sufficient to maintain that position, and he slipped out of the top 16.[56] After this, he lost his qualifying matches in the five ranking tournaments.[54]
He beat David Gilbert and Rory McLeod to reach the first round of the 2012 Welsh Open, where he faced John Higgins, being defeated 1–4.[65] He narrowly missed out on a place in the 2012 World Open as he was defeated 4–5 by Mark King in the final round of qualifying.[66] He also lost in qualifying for the 2012 China Open to the eventual winner of the event, Peter Ebdon, 0–5.[67]
Liang lost in qualifying for both the 2012 Wuxi Classic and the Shanghai Masters to Rod Lawler. He reached the venue stage of the Australian Goldfields Open by beating Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon, but lost 3–5 in the first round against Matthew Stevens.[71] Liang beat Anthony McGill and Andrew Higginson to qualify for the 2012 UK Championship, where he saw a 4–3 lead in the first round against Barry Hawkins turn into a 4–6 defeat.[72] Liang failed to qualify for the next two events but won two matches to enter the main draw of both the 2013 Welsh Open and the China Open. In Wales, he lost 2–4 to Stevens in the first round, and in his homeland of China, he beat Lu Ning 5–1 in the wildcard round before losing 3–5 to Stuart Bingham in the first round.[71] Liang had a very consistent season in the Players Tour Championship series as he advanced to, but not past, the last 16 in five of the ten events.[71] This saw him placed 27th on the PTC Order of Merit, one spot short of making the Players Tour Finals.[73] Liang's season ended when he was beaten 6–10 by Mark Davis in the final round of qualification for the World Championship.[74] His end-of-year ranking was world number 32.[75]
English Masters champion and UK Championship finalist
Liang at the 2014 German Masters
In July 2013, Liang reached the final of the World Games but lost the gold medal match 0–3 to Aditya Mehta.[76] He had an excellent season in the Asian Tour events by reaching the semi-finals of the Zhangjiagang Open, where he was defeated 1–4 by Michael Holt, and at the Zhengzhou Open, where Liang won his first individual title on the World Snooker Tour.[76] He beat Anthony McGill 4–3 in the semi-finals before whitewashing Lü Haotian 4–0 to claim the £10,000 first prize.[77] In the full ranking events, Liang won five successive frames against defending world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the second round of the International Championship to triumph 6–4, which marked his first ever success over his opponent after losing in all four previous attempts.[78] He then thrashed Mark Davis 6–1 to reach the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time in four years, where he lost 3–6 against Graeme Dott.[79][80] Liang reached the last 16 of both the German Masters and Welsh Open, losing 2–5 to Mark Davis and 2–4 to Barry Hawkins, respectively.[76] A second final on the Asian Tour followed at the Dongguan Open, where Stuart Bingham made four breaks above 50 to defeat him 4–1, but Liang still topped the Order of Merit to qualify for the Finals.[81] There, he was beaten 2–4 by Yu Delu, and Liang was defeated 7–10 by Martin Gould in the final round of World Championship qualifying.[76]
Liang overcame Jamie Burnett 5–1 in the first round of the 2014 Wuxi Classic and then inflicted the first defeat on Mark Selby since he won the World Championship, beating him 5–3.[82] In the last 16, Liang was knocked out 2–5 by Joe Perry.[83] He lost 3–5 against Robert Milkins in the opening round of the 2014 Australian Goldfields Open, and in the wildcard round of the Shanghai Masters, 1–5 to Yan Bingtao.[84] He failed to get past the last 64 of the next two ranking events but won two matches to reach the 2015 German Masters, where he eliminated Li Hang 5–1 in the first round. He reached the quarter-finals by coming back from 3–4 down against Stuart Bingham to win 5–4 on the final pink.[85] He also defeated Ryan Day 5–4 to play in his second career ranking event semi-final,[86] where he took four frames in a row to hold a narrow 4–3 advantage over Shaun Murphy before losing three successive frames in a 4–6 defeat.[87] Liang did not drop a single frame in defeating both Cao Xinlong and Gerard Greene at the 2015 Welsh Open, but was then the victim of a whitewash by John Higgins in the third round. At the inaugural World Grand Prix, he lost 3–4 to Graeme Dott in the second round.[84] In the final round of 2015 World Snooker Championship qualifying, he lost the last three frames against compatriot Zhang Anda to be defeated 9–10.[88]
Liang reached the final of the invitational tournament, the 2015 Six-red World Championship, but was heavily beaten 2–8 by Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.[89] In the third round of the 2015 UK Championship, he trailed Judd Trump by three frames but won 6–4.[90] He then defeated Tom Ford 6–5, after which Ford accused Liang of "boring him off the table" with slow play.[91] Liang opened his quarter-final match against Marco Fu with three centuries and hung on to edge it 6–5, then came from 2–4 behind to reach the final by beating David Grace 6–4.[92] It was the first final of the event to feature two players from outside the United Kingdom; Liang lost the match 5–10 to Neil Robertson.[93] A week later, he progressed to the semi-finals of the Gibraltar Open but was whitewashed 0–4 by Fu.[94]
Liang's UK Championship final helped him break back into the top 16 in the world rankings to make his debut at the 2016 Masters, where he was knocked out 4–6 by John Higgins in the opening round.[95] He was whitewashed 0–4 by Shaun Murphy in the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix.[94] After winning three matches to qualify for the 2016 World Snooker Championship, Liang lost 8–10 to Judd Trump after an earlier 7–3 lead.[96]
In the first round of the 2016 Shanghai Masters, Liang was narrowly beaten 5–4 by O'Sullivan.[97] He won five matches at the 2016 English Open, which included a 4–3 second round victory over Shaun Murphy, to reach the semi-finals.[98] From 3–4 down, Liang defeated Stuart Bingham 6–5 to reach his third ranking event final.[99] In the final, he ended Judd Trump's 14-match winning streak with a 9–6 victory. He became the second player from mainland China to win a ranking event and thanked O'Sullivan (with whom he practices daily) for his help.[100] The win also gave him entry to his first Champion of Champions, where he lost 0–4 in the opening round to Mark Selby.[98]
Final playing years
In the 2016 Scottish Open, Liang reached the quarter-finals, where he lost to Yu Delu 4–5.[101] In the Masters, he was one pot away from defeating O'Sullivan 6–4, instead going on to lose 5–6.[102] A 4–0 defeat of Dominic Dale and a pair of 4–3 victories over Mark Allen and Joe Perry moved Liang into the semi-finals of the 2017 World Grand Prix, where he was defeated 1–6 by Barry Hawkins.[98] In the second round of the 2017 World Snooker Championship, Liang trailed Ding Junhui 2–6 after the first session and 7–9 after the second. He then won a trio of frames to take the lead in the match for the first time at 12–11, but lost the match 12–13.[103] After the event, his end-of-season ranking rose to 11, which was his career-high.[104]
Still ranked within the top 16, Liang gained entry to the 2018 Masters, where he led 5–4, but lost the match 5–6.[105] Having dropped to 19th in the world, Liang was forced to qualify for the 2018 World Snooker Championship. In the tenth frame of his match against Lawler, he made his third career maximum break and had an opportunity to make another one in the twelfth frame, missing the final black ball.[106] After defeating Lawler, he was whitewashed by Jamie Jones. Liang was the highest-ranked player not to make the main tournament.[107]
Liang reached the semi-finals of the 2022 European Masters, defeating top-16 players Murphy and McGill before being defeated 2–6 by O'Sullivan.[112] He also reached the semi-final of the single-frame tournament, the 2022 Snooker Shoot Out, where he lost to winner Hossein Vafaei.[113] At the invitational version of the 2022 Championship League, Liang won group one and qualified for the last four during the Winner's Group. Liang lost 2–3 to Bingham, having been docked a frame for turning up late.[114] The final tournament for which Liang qualified was the 2022 Welsh Open, where he lost 3–4 in the opening round to Ben Woollaston.[115]
Domestic assault conviction and suspension
In the early hours of 20 July 2021, Liang was captured on CCTV repeatedly punching and kicking a woman during an argument in Sheffield city centre.[116] The victim made an emergency call, during which she was reported to be screaming in distress.[116] After pleading guilty to domestic assault at Sheffield Magistrates' Court on 9 February 2022, Liang was sentenced on 1 April to a 12-month community order plus a £1,380 fine.[117]Sheffield Heeley MP Louise Haigh called the outcome "a shockingly pathetic sentence for such a violent and appalling assault" and called for Liang to be banned from the upcoming 2022 World Snooker Championship.[118]
The day after the sentencing, the WPBSA suspended Liang from professional competition with immediate effect, making him ineligible to compete in the World Championship qualifiers, which began on 4 April.[119][120] The WPBSA held a disciplinary hearing on 26 May, at which Liang accepted that he had breached the WPBSA Members' Rules and his contract with World Snooker Limited by engaging in behaviour unbecoming of a sportsperson and by bringing the sport into disrepute. The WPBSA suspended him for a total of four months, until 1 August, and ordered him to pay £1,000 towards the costs of the hearing.[121][122] Liang returned to competition at the 2022 British Open qualifiers.[123]
Match-fixing investigation and permanent ban
The WPBSA suspended Liang again on 27 October 2022, due to misconduct allegations.[124][125] It later disclosed that it was investigating Liang for match-fixing offences. It subsequently suspended nine other Chinese players as part of the same investigation, which became the biggest match-fixing inquiry in the sport's history.[126] In January 2023, the WPBSA charged Liang with "being concerned in fixing matches and approaching players to fix matches on the World Snooker Tour, seeking to obstruct the investigation and failing to cooperate with the WPBSA investigation."[127]
An independent disciplinary tribunal began hearing cases against the suspended Chinese players in April 2023.[128] It found Liang guilty of fixing or conspiring to fix the results of five matches in total and of inducing players to fix the results of nine matches. It also found him guilty of betting on matches, threatening players, destroying evidence, and not cooperating with the investigation.[129] In June 2023, the WPBSA announced that it had banned Liang from the sport for life and ordered him to pay £43,000 in costs. It also banned Li Hang for life and banned the other eight players involved for lengthy periods.[130]
The CBSA launched its own investigation after the WPBSA investigation concluded. It also banned Liang and Li for life, preventing them from taking part in any organised snooker competition in China.[131][132][133]
Personal life
In December 2011, Liang joined Romford-based snooker academy and management team Grove Leisure.[134] Liang is married to Chen Xuejiao, and the couple has one child.[135] In 2020, prior to the World Grand Prix, Liang had pledged to donate any money he would receive at the tournament to the Huizhou Red Cross in response to the coronavirus outbreak in China.[136]
^Turner, Chris. "Latest World Rankings". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 14 April 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
^"Order of Merit". WWW Snooker. 17 October 2010. Archived from the original on 13 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
^"中國桌球假波｜「富二代」趙心童成停賽第十人 中國前列球手滅團" ["Rich second generation" Zhao Xintong became the tenth suspended player and China's top players were eliminated]. 香港01 (in Chinese). 1 January 2023.
^"涉「打假波」案 桌球手梁文博及李行終身禁賽 趙心童罰停賽20個月" [Liang Wenbo and Li Xing were banned for life for their involvement in the "anti-fixing" case and Zhao Xintong was suspended for 20 months]. 星島頭條.區區有申訴 (in Chinese). 7 June 2023.
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