Snooker: Hann to Miss Grand Prix As Questions Await

Quinten Hann will be paid £3,000 by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association for not turning up at the Grand Prix in Preston tomorrow.

The 28-year-old Australian, who has been under disciplinary investigation by the WPBSA for five months, submitted a sick note and is therefore eligible to receive prize money and ranking points as a last-64 loser. His scheduled opponent Ricky Walden, a qualifier, is thus assured of at least £5,000 and a place in the last 32.

Hann faces allegations that he brought the game into disrepute by agreeing to lose by a prearranged score against Ken Doherty in last April's China Open in Beijing, for a payment of £50,000. The allegations were made by The Sun after Hann was filmed with a reporter posing as a front man for a betting syndicate. The story was published on May 10 and the tape passed to the WPBSA. The match proceeded normally and Doherty won 5-2.

According to The Sun, Hann also "bragged about how pals had cashed in on a previous match by backing him to lose" and offered to recruit other players who he said were willing to fix matches.

In a report on May 11, another Australian, Neil Robertson, said he had received an approach by Hann to take £30,000 to throw a match but had stated that he wanted no part of such an arrangement.

Hann's mother, Amanda, said her son knew he was "being set upÐ and "didn't fall for the bait", adding: "Of course he's not worried; he said it was absolutely hilarious."

Last week a WPBSA spokesman offered no comment when asked if a tape of the match had been requested for analysis. Nor have the charges Hann faces been made public.Hann is understood to have declined to appear in front of a disciplinary panel three times before agreeing.

In 1995, it took four weeks for Peter Francisco to be suspended for five years following pre-notification of a betting coup that he would lose 10-2 to Jimmy White at the Crucible.