Former UK Snooker Champion Zhao Xintong to return from ban at upcoming Q Tour event

Zhao's comeback match is scheduled to be against Lithuania’s Vilius Schulte-Ebbert in round one of the second Q Tour event of the season which is being held at the National Snooker Academy of Bulgaria in Sofia between September 20-22.

The 2021 UK Championship winner – who is now 27-years-old – was one of ten Chinese professional players who were part of the match-fixing scandal that came out during the 2022/23 season.

Having initially been suspended from the professional tour and following the outcome of the investigation, bans were determined by the Independent Disciplinary Commission and issued out by snooker's governing body the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA).

There were differing lengths of bans for the 10 players depending on their offences. These are all listed on the WPBSA website from on official statement they released on June 6th, 2023. Li Hang and Liang Wenbo – the latter was a former ranking event winner – were both given lifetime bans.

Out of the 10 punished players, Zhao's ban was the shortest. As per the statement, he was judged to have been 'a party to another player fixing two snooker matches' and that he 'bet on snooker matches in breach of the rules.'

Due to early admissions and a guilty plea for his offences, Zhao's initial ban was reduced to one year and eight months. This ban ran out earlier this month on September 1st.

Whilst Zhao's WPBSA sanction is over, he still has a domestic ban with the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association (CBSA) that runs until July 2025, which means he can not play in a CBSA-organised event until then.

However, having served his sentence and paid costs of £7,500, Zhao is able to enter WPBSA-run events and therefore attempt to re-qualify for next season's professional snooker tour.

The Q Tour provides an avenue for this (more information below), but should he not be successful through this route, there are other ways he could get his tour card back including through the World Snooker Federation Championship and the Q School.

It will be interesting to see what sort of reception Zhao receives amongst his fellow players, the fans and media.

During his time away from the pro tour, Zhao has remained active on Instagram and regularly shared content around snooker. He may have been practicing, but there could well be an element of competitive rustiness when he returns. It will also be intriguing to see how he copes being back on the amateur circuit and the conditions involved.

The full UK/Europe Q Tour Event Two draw is here.

What is snooker's Q Tour?

The Q Tour is an amateur series of snooker events open to all players who don't have a professional World Snooker Tour card. It is seen as a secondary tier of the sport.

There are various regional series on the Q Tour, but the original and 'biggest' series is the one held in the UK and Europe.

On the UK/Europe Q Tour there are currently seven events a season with prizes and rankings points at stake during each leg. At the end of the season, the player with the most cumulative rankings points from the seven events wins a two-year professional card. Last season, this was Michael Holt.

The highest ranked players from all the international Q Tour series’ – Americas, Middle East, Asia-Oceania and those behind the winner from the UK/Europe version – are invited to the end-of-season Global Q Tour Play-offs which offer another three professional tour cards. Last season, Amir Sarkhosh (Iran), Duane Jones (Wales) and Mohamed Shebab (United Arab Emirates) won these.

There has already been one UK/Europe Q Tour event held this season at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds. Estonia's Andres Petrov defeated Australia's Ryan Thomerson 4-3 in the final.