England’s Joe Jogia feels WPBSA is making him scapegoat – Snooker Update
A couple of days back, the snooker governing body, World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) announced that they are launching investigation following the suspicious betting patterns reports on the 2012 Snooker Shootout match between England’s
Joe Jogia and Mathew Selt. The WPBSA also suspended Jogia from playing professional snooker events until the end of investigations.
The WPBSA was informed by the bookmakers that there are some suspicious betting patterns on the match between the Englishmen. Jogia was up against Selt in the 2012 Snooker Shootout event but he pulled out of the event because of his leg injury and Selt got
a walkover. The bookmakers informed that before Jogia pulled out, a large number of small amounts were stacked on Selt’s victory.
The events were favouring the doubts as the bookmakers mentioned which made the matter suspicious and the WPBSA had to take action. However, Jogia feels that there is nothing of the sort in this matter so he should not be suspended from playing matches.
He believes that the WPBSA is being unfair with him because there is no need for suspension. In his recent statement, Jogia expressed that he believes the WPBSA is victimising him and is making him a scapegoat. He also said that the investigations should
be completed soon.
While speaking to the BBC Sport, Jogia said, “I don't feel the WPBSA are racist, but it is a complete and utter disgrace the way they have treated me. I am being made a scapegoat, I cannot contest enough how innocent I am.”
He added, “The suspension means I am missing a lot of ranking points and prize money. I'm missing out on two tournaments, which is my livelihood. I can't afford to miss events like the top players in the world do and am trying to earn a few quid in life.
I need to play.”
Meanwhile the WPBSA has made clear that they deny any allegations of being racists. The WPBSA spokesperson quoted John Higgins’ example saying that the Scotsman was also suspended immediately when he was suspicious of the crime. It will be interesting to
see what the WPBSA comes up with in their investigation and the impact that this information may have on the sport.
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