New Delhi: The menace of match-fixing has not only threatened popular games such as cricket and football but the dark clouds are also hovering over other minor sports like snooker.
Professional snooker has recently got embroiled in the match-fixing controversy that threatens the credibility of the game over the involvement of a leading player throwing matches with a dishonest intent.
Former World No. 5 Englishman Stephen Lee was found guilty of fixing offences at an independent hearing arranged by Sports Resolutions UK and served with a 12-year-long ban from snooker for throwing away seven matches in 2008 and 2009. He was also ordered to pay $40,000 in costs.
To combat match-fixing in snooker, the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) has entered into a partnership with the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the international governing body for professional snooker and English billiards, to protect and enhance the integrity of professional snooker.
The global integrity partnership was announced on Tuesday at the Indian Open here. It will include specific areas of activity and collaboration, including integrity training and education, monitoring of international betting on Snooker, investigation advice and support, and intelligence gathering, that will take advantage of the ICSS global source network.
"It's more to do with intelligence sharing, players' education, and maintaining integrity around sport. We want to ensure that snooker continues to remain a gentleman's game," Nigel Mawer QPM, who leads the WPBSA on anti-corruption and discipline issues, told PTI.
This initiative has been developed in order to enhance monitoring and detection mechanisms of international snooker and will safeguard the WPBSA's position as one of the world's leading sports in anti-corruption strategies.
Nigel, who works as a freelance specialist advisor in the areas of sport regulation, integrity in sport, anti-corruption, economic and e-crime, said his mandate would be to talk to the cueists and know from them whether any suspected approach has been made to them or not.
Comments
0 comment