Barry Hearn has confessed that the News of the World exposé on John Higgins and his manager Pat Mooney does not ‘look good’ for the 3-time Crucible winner.

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”

Australians don’t do losing. From a young age they seem to be instilled with a fiercely competitive nature to triumph in whatever sporting arena you place them in. For a nation sandwiched between Taiwan and Syria in a list of countries by population they certainly exceed in pretty much every sport and have had world champions in tennis, rugby, cricket and golf.

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…

Snookers golden oldies featuring legends such as Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins, Steve Davis and Jimmy White will battle it out in the inaugural World Seniors Championship later this year.

Organiser Joe Johnson, 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.

Ken Doherty refused to be drawn on his future in snooker after succumbing to a 10-4 first round defeat to Mark Selby in the World Snooker Championships.

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,

Former World Snooker Champion John Parrott appears to be on the brink of calling time on his 27 year snooker career after he lost to Chinese teenager Anda Zhang in the World Championship qualifiers yesterday.

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…”

John Higgins is the new World Snooker Champion after defeating 2005 winner Shaun Murphy 18-9 at the Crucible theatre.

“I’m over the moon!” said a beaming Higgins to Ray Stubbs in the aftermath of what was an entertaining battle.

“I’ve won two out of the last three and there’s no reason why I can’t go on and win some more.” he continued.

The victory was no less than the Scot deserved having controlled the match from yesterday’s second session when an 11-5 lead put the groundwork down for today’s afternoon session where he increased his lead further to 16-8.

Can two-time Crucible winner John Higgins seal a hat-trick of World Championship victories when he takes on 2005 champion Shaun Murphy?

The ‘Wizard of Wishaw’ triumphed back in 1998 and 2007, but can take nothing for granted against an opponent who has enjoyed a rich vein of form in Sheffield.

Higgins led 11-5 after the first two sessions. However, this match is far from over and Murphy will be looking to close the gap heading into tonight’s final session.

John Higgins survived an almighty scare from Mark Allen before booking his place in the final of the World Snooker Championship. The Scot let a 13-3 lead slip as the Northern Ireland ace stormed back to trail 15-12 at the Crucible.

“I feel total relief,” said Higgins after winning 17-13. “I was just thinking I could throw this away here. All sorts of negative thoughts crept in, but it’s only at The Crucible that you do that. All credit to Mark. He’s great for the game – he’s like a street-fighter. He gets the crowd behind him as well. As I said to him afterwards, he will come back and win it one day.”