Young Chinese snooker ace talked up by Ronnie O'Sullivan returns from betting ban with comeback win

The 22-year-old from China was playing his first match on the World Snooker Tour since 2022. Chang was one of several Chinese players who were banned from the sport following their involvement in the match-fixing scandal that rocked snooker a few years ago.

Chang admitted to fixing his British Open last 32 match in September 2022. He was stripped of his professional status after being given a three-year suspension that was reduced to two years because of his early admission and guilty plea. He was also ordered to pay £7,500 in costs.

That ban ran out last December, meaning Chang was free to try and win back his professional tour card. And it didn't take him long to achieve this, as a few months later in Albury, Australia, he defeated Ryan Thomerson 6-1 in the final to claim the 2025 Asia-Pacific Snooker Championship - a prestigious amateur competition that provides a pathway to snooker's top flight.

Chang's professional comeback arrived at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester where he faced world number 44 Daniel Wells in a qualifying match for the £700,000 Wuhan Open world ranking event.

Welshman Wells - who qualified for the Crucible earlier this year - was in amazing form during the first half of the encounter as breaks of 52, 115, 54 and 138 helped him build a 4-1 lead and to just one frame away from victory.

However, Chang mounted a big recovery as he strung together four consecutive frames - aided by runs of 84, 60 and 70 - to score a deciding frame victory and a place in the last 64 which will be held in the Far East in late August.

Chang will play either former World Champion Stuart Bingham or Liam Highfield in round two in China.

Who is Chang Bingyu and high praise he received from Ronnie O’Sullivan

Having hit his first competitive maximum 147 break at the age of just 14, there was plenty of talk surrounding Chang as a future star during his junior and amateur days.

A winner of the China Youth Championship, Chang secured the IBSF World Amateur Snooker Championship in Myanmar in 2018 as a 16-year-old when he defeated compatriot He Guoqiang 8-3 in the final.

After finishing top of the Chinese national rankings, Chang earned promotion to snooker's professional circuit for the first time and made his debut in the 2019/20 season.

Having moved to the UK as a very young player, Chang showed glimpses of his talent as he reached the last 32 of three ranking events during his opening stint on the World Snooker Tour, including at the 2020 UK Championship.

Chang caught the eye of Ronnie O'Sullivan, with 'The Rocket' heaping lots of praise on the youngster following their round two match at the 2020 Scottish Open.

O'Sullivan won that contest 4-1, but the record-breaking ranking event winner was keen to talk up his opponent in a post-match interview with Eurosport where amongst other comments he said: "I knew I was playing a very, very good player, he's super-talented. He's the nearest to someone like Judd (Trump) because he scores really quick. He's dangerous.

"He scores so quick. If you don't score quick you can never really be dangerous at this game. He's one of them - he gets on with it, bang bang bang, and before you know it he can reel three, four frames off.”

Chang's next match is against India's Kreishh Gurbaxani in the British Open on Thursday morning.

For the full draw and results from the 2025 Wuhan Open, please visit our tournament information centre here.