Liang Wenbo (; born 5 March 1987) is a Chinese former professional snooker player who is permanently banned from competition. During his career, Liang won one ranking title at the 2016 English Open, twice won the World Cup for China in 2011 and 2017 with teammate Ding Junhui, and reached one Triple Crown final at the 2015 UK Championship, which he lost to Neil Robertson. He made three maximum breaks in professional competition and achieved a career high of 11th in the snooker world rankings.
In April 2022, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association suspended him for four months after he was convicted of domestic assault. It suspended him again in October 2022 as part of a match-fixing investigation involving ten Chinese players. In January 2023, Liang was charged with fixing matches, approaching players to fix matches, seeking to obstruct the investigation, and failing to cooperate with the investigation. After the charges were heard by an independent disciplinary tribunal, the WPBSA announced in June 2023 that Liang had received a lifetime ban from the sport.
Career
Amateur years
As an amateur, Liang's major feats were as follows:
2003 IBSF World Snooker Championship, men's division, quarter-finalist
2004 IBSF World Snooker Championship, under-21 division, semi-finalist
2005 International Open Series, under-21 division, no. 4 runner-up
Liang built on the positive start to his snooker career, winning an individual silver medal and a team gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games.
2004/2005
Liang began his professional career during the 2004–05 snooker season playing on the Challenge Tour, which is the tier below the World Snooker Association Main Tour. He finished a mediocre 104th out of 168 competitors, having only accumulated 2150 points.
2005/2006
Liang received a wildcard nomination to the Main Tour despite not qualifying directly; this was because he won the 2005 IBSF World Under-21 Championship, and also because not all of the players that were eligible for the Main Tour took their places. In his first ranking tournament, the Grand Prix, he lost in the first qualifying round to Rory McLeod 2–5. He fared better in the next ranking event, the UK Championship, where he almost whitewashed Alfred Burden in the first qualifying round 9–1, but subsequently lost in the second qualifying round to Marcus Campbell by the narrowest of margins, 8–9.
Liang qualified for his first ranking event at the Welsh Open, beating Sean Storey, Jamie Burnett and Rory McLeod to reach the main draw. He defeated Nigel Bond in the first round 5–0, but his run was halted when he lost to Graeme Dott 3–5.
At the Malta Cup, however, he lost in the first qualifying round to Paul Davies 3–5. At the China Open, he beat David McDonnell and Matthew Couch before losing against Adrian Gunnell 3–5 in the third qualifying round. He ended the season falling at the first hurdle at the World Championship, losing to Joe Delaney 5–10 in the first qualifying round. 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, which qualified him for a place on the main tour for the next season.
2006/2007
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. However, at the Grand Prix, Liang came 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 did beat former world champion and world number one Stephen Hendry 3–0. At the UK Championship, he lost in the second round of qualifying to Jamie Burnett 7–9. In the following ranking event, the Malta Cup, he lost to Joe Jogia 3–5, again in the second round of qualifying. He qualified for the Welsh Open, his third ranking tournament, by beating Dene O'Kane, Joe Jogia and Mark Davis. He met Nigel Bond again in the last 48, this time losing only 3–5.
At the China Open, he continued his run of reaching the second round of qualifying in every ranking tournament, and beat Robert Stephen before losing to Finland's Robin Hull. At the World Championship, he beat Jeff Cundy before losing to Mike Dunn. After a modest season, he improved on his tour ranking by finishing in 66th place, just outside the top 64; and he topped the one year ranking list to ensure his place on the WSA Tour for next season.