Snooker bosses launch formal investigation into betting furore

WORLD SNOOKER confirmed they will conduct a formal investigation into the betting controversy surrounding Jamie Burnett’s defeat to Stephen Maguire at the Maplin UK Championship in Telford earlier this week.

Bookmakers suspended activity on the first-round match after a flurry of wagers were placed on a 9-3 scoreline in Maguire’s favour — the margin by which the Scot did eventually win.

Burnett missed a black in the 12th frame that would have made it 8-4.

And while Burnett has subsequently denied any wrongdoing, WPBSA have moved to try and get to the bottom of the allegation.

A statement from WPBSA last night read: “Now that the match has been played, the WPBSA will move forward with a formal investigation.

“It has already instructed specialist external legal counsel to assist it in pursuing the investigation robustly and efficiently, so as to protect the integrity of the sport while at the same time respecting its obligation to treat those being investigated fairly.”

Meanwhile Ali Carter clinched a place in the semi-finals of the UK Championship after winning the final frame of his quarter-final match with Mark Williams last night. Williams had a chance to set up victory but got a bad contact when he tried to pot an easy red and Carter went on to clear the table and snatch a 9-8 win.

Hong Kong snooker star Marco Fu moved into the UK Championship semi-finals with a 9-7 win over Joe Perry.

Earlier defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan played down the early concession of a frame as he crashed out of the UK Championship.

The three-times world champion lost 9-5 to Joe Perry despite starting the day with a 5-3 advantage.

After losing three frames in a row, the 33-year-old seemed to have lost all interest, and conceded the next frame at only 23-0 down to go 7-5 behind.

The incident brought back memories of two years ago, when O’Sullivan conceded another best-of-17-frame UK Championship match against Stephen Hendry.

But the 33-year-old world champion said: “He played great — I wasn’t going to win today.

“Sometimes you’ve got to hold your hands up. It might have looked like I lost my head but I’ll bounce back.”