World no 1 Higgins banned for 6 months but cleared of match-fixing

John Higgins, the world’s number one snooker player, has been banned for six months and fined £75,000, but crucially cleared of accepting a bribe to fix matches.
An independent disciplinary hearing on Wednesday concluded that Higgins’ claim that he felt intimidated during a meeting in Kiev with an undercover journalist offering him large sums of money to throw a match was true, news agency Reuters reported.

The three-time world champion’s six-month suspension has been backdated meaning he can continue his snooker career in November.

“I was not guilty of any dishonesty and had no intention to fix a match and no intention to do anything corrupt,” Higgins said in a pre-prepared statement after the hearing.

“I have never been involved in any form of snooker match-fixing. In my 18 years playing professional snooker I have never deliberately missed a shot, never mind intentionally lost a frame or a match.”

“If I am guilty of anything it is of naivety and trusting those who, I believed, were working in the best interests of snooker and myself,” said Higgins, according to a report by Reuters.

World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn said he was satisfied with the outcome of the hearing.