England’s Joe Jogia pulls out of 2012 Snooker Shootout – Snooker news
Following a knee injury due to an awkward landing, England’s Joe Jogia has decided to quit his participation in the upcoming 2012 Snooker Shootout. The Englishman was drawn against Matthew Selt in his first match of the tournament. According to some reports,
a high number of bets were placed in favour of Selt to win the match.
Jogia’s first match against Selt was supposed to be a tussling encounter but unfortunately, the Englishman will not be able to play anymore. The Leicester cueman has informed World Snooker about his absence from the tournament.
The World Number 45 explained, “I tore my left knee ligaments last week. Last Friday it was raining so I ran back from a friend's, which is five minutes from home. I twisted my knee very badly by landing awkwardly and spent much of the next day in casualty.
I've been barely able to walk. World Snooker said I needed a doctor's certificate to pull out.”
Meanwhile, a controversy arose about some suspicious betting patterns following Jogia’s unavailability in the tournament which tipped off the snooker governing body. A higher number of betting odds were stacked on Jogia to lose. By the looks of betting patterns,
it seemed that the cueman is involved in some kind of match fixing.
The betting was suspended by World Snooker and the Gambling Commission launched a probe to investigate the involvement of the player. Jogia denied any kind of involvement from his side in the suspicious betting patterns and said that his injury might have
raised a doubtful and dodgy betting pattern.
Jogia added, “I've done nothing wrong. People have obviously seen me hobbling around in practise and must have bet on me to lose. I had no idea about it. I am appalled at what's happened. My name is like gold in snooker. I would never do anything dodgy.”
The Gambling Commission of World Professional Billiard and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is set to find if there is any wrongdoing from the player so that it could be tackled properly on time.
Meanwhile, Matthew Selt felt ready to play against Jogia but now that he has pulled out of the tournament, Delt can relax and prepare for his next match. He said that he had never beaten Jogia earlier but his unavailability will be a bonus for him and he
will be able to move up in the rankings.
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