Hearn, speaking after the News of the World published a story on world number 1 and last year’s World Champion Higgins, which allegedly shows him agreeing to lose 4 frames of snooker in exchange for a cash payment of £261,000, said:

“Obviously the guy is in bits and I can sympathise with him because it’s been his whole life – the guy is number one in the world”

“As a friend – which I would classify myself to John Higgins because I’ve known him for 20 years – it doesn’t look good.”

“We all watched the video – I can only judge on the visual evidence in front of me. If he is found guilty it will carry the most severe of penalties.”

“I actually believe he’s an honest man – but I can’t ignore the evidence in front of me and the damage it could do to the game.”

Higgins has since released a statement protesting his innocence, which read:

“Can I say that 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,” he said in a statement read out on the BBC before the start of today’s World Championship final.”

“In all honesty I became very worried at the way the conversation developed in Kiev. When it was suggested that I throw frames in return for large sums of money, I was really spooked. I just wanted to get out of the hotel and on to the plane home.”

“I didn’t know if this was the Russian mafia or who we were dealing with. At that stage I felt the best course of action was just to play along with these guys and get out of Russia.”

“Those who know me are aware of my love for snooker and that I would never do anything to damage the integrity of the sport I love. My conscience is 100% clear.”

If you haven’t already – check out the video below!

One sport that has eluded them is snooker. But that all changed with Neil Robertson’s 18-13 victory over Scotland’s Graeme Dott on Sunday. ‘The Thunder from Down Under’ described the achievement as ‘absolutely incredible’ after picking up a cheque for £250,000 for his efforts.

“I seriously can’t believe it. In my last-16 match, I was 11-5 down to Martin Gould and after my match with Ali Carter I was really disappointed I couldn’t have any of my family over for the final.

“Then I got a voicemail from my mum to say that when I was 15-9 up overnight against Ali, she had jumped on a plane, so it was quite lucky I finished the job off!

“My mum and her partner have travelled for ages and they only got two hours’ sleep before the final, so for them to be here makes it absolutely perfect” said Robertson.

Relive the final frame below.

Organiser Joe Johnson (pictured), winner of the World Snooker Championship in 1986, today announced that the tournament will have no less than six former world champions on show, with Ken Doherty, Peter Ebdon, John Parrott and Dennis Taylor confirmed to take part in the new event.

“I have been working very hard to pull this concept together and I am glad that with World Snooker’s help we are making it a reality” said Johnson.

“I cannot wait to get out on the floor and battle it out with my old friends and adversaries. Snooker fans have been crying out for this type of event and I am sure that we will do our best to put on an entertaining Championship.”

The World Snr Championship format

Venue – Cedar House
Date – 5th – 7th November 2010
Players – Alex Higgins, Steve Davis, Jimmy White, Ken Doherty, Peter Ebdon, John Parrott, Joe Johnson, Dennis Taylor, Tony Knowles, Tony Drago, Mike Hallett, Darren Morgan, Nigel Bond, Joe Swail, David Taylor, Dave Harold
Structure – Qualifying rounds -> Quarters-finals -> Semi-finals -> Finals
Prize pool – £50,000

Check out the great Alex Higgins in action below.

Doherty, winner at the Crucible back in 1997, kissed the theatre floor after entering the arena to face Selby on Saturday, but it was the ‘Jester from Leicester’

The Dubliner, absent from snookers showpiece tournament 12 months ago, had to defeat Jimmy White and Joe Swail to even secure a spot against Mark Selby, but he had no answer against the in form world number 7.

Selby punished Doherty at almost every attempt and after opening up a 6-3 lead in the opening session he finished the job off 10-4 to book a second round clash against Stephen Hendry.

Doherty was full of praise for his opponent after bowing out at the first hurdle: “He looks like a guy who’s really on top form and it’s always hard to play against someone like that.”

“Every time you make even the smallest miscalculation you’re punished by him clearing up and winning the frame.”

Watch the final frame, of what could be Doherty’s last appearance at the Crucible, below.

The 10-6 defeat leaves Parrott in the precarious position of 65th in the world, one place away from a spot on the tour next season and the 1991 Crucible winner was resigned in chances of competing again in the future.

“If I’m off the tour, it’s fairly certain that I’ll retire. I certainly won’t be playing any lower down. I still have the utmost respect for the game. I’ve just lost in the world championships and I’m not going to stand here and spit the dummy out. But playing-wise, I don’t enjoy the hours of practice any more” said Parrott.

“My children got all my old trophies out downstairs and put them on the cabinet. I can look back and say I was UK, European and world champion all at the same time, so if you can find anywhere else to be a champion then let me know.”

An official announcement on his retirement is now expected if Parrott does not climb back into the top 64 in the world rankings.

It looked grim for the 14th seed at 7-6 down, but the 2005 UK Champion showed all of his battling qualities to prevail in what was an extremely entertaining final.

“It’s been a crazy week” Junhui said. “I can’t believe it. It’s brilliant. I am concentrating more. I had some bad shot selections but I was telling myself not to be angry.”

Check out the climax of the final frame below and the awards ceremony after.

Murphy’s triumph ended O’Sullivan’s five year reign of the event and he acknowledged the Rocket’s stranglehold of the Premier League after the game – “It would have been a great achievement for Ronnie to win it six years in a row and he deserves a lot of credit to win it five years in a row.”

“After losing a 3-0 lead I was about to go into panic mode had it not been for my manager Brandon who said the right things to me and I might’ve twitched up had it not been for that. To go 3-0 up against Ronnie is almost the position you don’t want to be in as you know he will hunt you down” added Murphy.

O’Sullivan admitted that his opponent deserved the win and said: “I’m disappointed but Shaun was strong, scored very well and looked confident around the table so he deserved to win.”

Final Result

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN 3-7 SHAUN MURPHY
O’Sullivan’s scores first
9-119 (Murphy 111), 36-87 (O’Sullivan 35, Murphy 38, 32), 11-100 (Murphy 40, 31), 65-51 (O’Sullivan 34), 88-0 (O’Sullivan 88), 67-61 (O’Sullivan 49, Murphy 34), 27-75 (Murphy 33), 3-126 (Murphy 47, 75), 0-63 (Murphy 63), 67-75 (O’Sullivan 67, Murphy 67)

The six times World Championship runner-up picked up a million-baht (approx £18,200) for winning the Montien Riverside Hotel event in Thailand.

White, who had only received a wild card entry into the tournament, chalked up impressive wins against Shaun Murphy, Ricky Walden and Mark Williams on his way to reaching the final.

Hawkins may have started the brighter, going 2-0 up, but once White found his rhythm on the green baize, ‘The Hawk’ struggled to live with ‘The People’s Champ’.

White racked up the highest break of the match a 61 (from a maximum 75) to grab a 5-4 lead and then saw out the match at 8-6 to win his first snooker tournament in over five years.

Final frame scores:

Jimmy White beat Barry Hawkins 8-6 (0-64, 22-41, 56-11, 41-0, 0-71, 47-0, 49-25, 8-35, 61(61)-0, 44-13, 20-30, 10-41, 43-16, 42-8)