Chinese · Zhaodong, Heilongjiang, China · Born 5 March 1987Chinese professional snooker player and two-time World Cup winner for China who reached world number 11 before receiving a lifetime ban for match-fixing in 2023.
Born in Zhaodong, Heilongjiang, China, on 5 March 1987, Liang Wenbo turned professional in 2005 after winning the IBSF World Under-21 Championship. A left-handed attacking player, he quickly established himself as China's second-ranked player behind Ding Junhui, reaching the quarter-finals of the World Championship in 2008 and the final of the Shanghai Masters in 2009, where he lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan. Liang won his only individual ranking title at the 2016 English Open, defeating friend and practice partner Judd Trump in the final, and twice won the World Cup for China alongside Ding Junhui, in 2011 and 2017. He compiled nearly 300 century breaks and three maximum breaks over his career, reaching a career-high ranking of world number 11 in 2016/17. In 2022, Liang was convicted of domestic assault and suspended by the WPBSA. His career then ended in disgrace when he was charged in a wide-ranging Chinese match-fixing scandal alongside several compatriots; in 2023 he was found guilty of fixing and attempting to fix multiple matches, betting on snooker, and obstructing the WPBSA's investigation, resulting in a lifetime ban from the sport. Liang's ban closed the door on a career that had once made him one of the faces of China's snooker boom, and his case remains one of the most serious integrity breaches in the sport's history.
Two World Cup wins for China and a career-ending lifetime match-fixing ban
How They Played
Attacking left-handed potter with strong break-building
Lasting Impact
Early member of China's snooker generation whose career ended in one of the sport's most serious integrity scandals
Chinese Athletes