Chang Bingyu enjoyed a successful return to the World Snooker Tour with victory over Daniel Wells in the Wuhan Open qualifiers on Monday.
The 22 year-old was one of ten players, including reigning world champion Zhao Xintong, who got embroiled in the Chinese-led match-fixing scandal that rocked the sport a few seasons ago.
Chang was given a three-year suspension, which was reduced to two years following his early admission of guilt.
He was free to return to competitive action in December and duly regained his professional card by triumphing at the Asia-Pacific Snooker Championship.
Prior to his ban, Chang Bingyu had reached a career-high snooker ranking of number 69 in the world.
The former IBSF world amateur champion beat Crucible qualifier Wells 5-4 on his first appearance back on the main tour.
Chang trailed 4-1 after his opponent contributed a brace of century breaks, but breaks of 84, 70, and 60 helped him to mount an unlikely turnaround.
It represented one of only a couple of matches across Monday’s action on the baize where the lower-ranked competitor emerged with a ticket to the ranking event in China.
The other instance saw Artemijs Zizins orchestrate a comprehensive 5-1 defeat of He Guoqiang.
Elsewhere, there were resounding successes for the likes of Mark Selby, Neil Robertson, and Shaun Murphy.
The latter pair thumped rookies Leone Crowley and Michal Szubarczyk with respective whitewash displays, while Selby ousted Alexander Ursenbacher with a 5-1 scoreline.
Among the other notable names to safely progress were Zhang Anda, Ali Carter, Gary Wilson, Tom Ford, and Jack Lisowski.
Several cueists from the ever-growing stable of Chinese players advanced – including Yuan Sijun, Pang Junxu, Lyu Haotian, and Liu Hongyu.
Stephen Maguire, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Zak Surety, and Aaron Hill were a few others to safely make it through.
On Tuesday, the Wuhan Open qualifiers conclude with the remaining fixtures at the Mattioli Arena in Leciester.
World number two Kyren Wilson launches his 2025/26 snooker season against tour newbie Connor Benzey.
Jimmy White, meanwhile, will begin what is his 46th campaign as a professional against Anthony McGill.
Monday’s Results
Yuan Sijun 5-1 Xu Yichen
Artemijs Zizins 5-1 He Guoqiang
Gary Wilson 5-2 Gao Yang
Lyu Haotian 5-3 Bai Yulu
Zhang Anda 5-2 Steven Hallworth
Chang Bingyu 5-4 Daniel Wells
Liu Hongyu 5-3 Ian Burns
Shaun Murphy 5-0 Michal Szubarczyk
Neil Robertson 5-0 Leone Crowley
Stephen Maguire 5-1 Kreishh Gurbaxani
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-0 Fergal Quinn
Zak Surety 5-1 Gong Chenzhi
Aaron Hill 5-1 Sam Craigie
Mark Selby 5-1 Alexander Ursenbacher
Tom Ford 5-2 Mateusz Baranowski
Stan Moody 5-2 Antoni Kowalski
Jack Lisowski 5-3 Amir Sarkhosh
Matthew Stevens 5-2 Sahil Nayyar
Pang Junxu 5-4 Hatem Yassen
Ali Carter 5-2 Florian Nuessle
Scott Donaldson 5-4 Mitchell Mann
Tuesday’s Order of Play
10am UTC+1 (BST)
Chris Wakelin vs Marco Fu
Xu Si vs Chris Totten
David Gilbert vs Cheung Ka Wai
Lei Peifan vs Ng On Yee
Ryan Day vs Jonas Luz
Jackson Page vs Ross Muir
Robert Milkins vs Wang Yuchen
2:30pm UTC+1 (BST)
Anthony McGill vs Jimmy White
Jak Jones vs Oliver Brown
Barry Hawkins vs Julien Leclercq
Ben Woollaston vs Ken Doherty
Stuart Bingham vs Liam Highfield
Jimmy Robertson vs Liam Pullen
Kyren Wilson vs Connor Benzey
Featured photo credit: WST
