Joe Jogia: Facing an uncertain future on the baize
Joe Jogia upset snooker's governing body after withdrawing at the eleventh hour his appeal against a two-year ban.
The 37-year-old from Leicester was suspended and handed a £2,000 fine at a hearing in July into suspicious betting patterns ahead of a Snooker Shoot-out match.Jogia initially appealed against the finding and the penalty, but the WorldProfessional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) confirmed the player opted against the appeal which had been due to take place on Wednesday.WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson said: "It is disappointing that Joe chose to go down the route of an appeal that in the view of our legal advisors had no substance to it."This has forced the WPBSA to bear significant legal costs in preparation for the appeal."It is my view that the the action taken by the WPBSA in this case shows a zero tolerance to breaches of the betting rules."The original investigation was launched because of large numbers of bets being placed on a match, scheduled to take place in January between Jogia, currently ranked 62 in the world, and Matthew Selt, by two men known to Jogia on Selt to win.Jogia, who was said to have contacted the two men 77 times and could not explain his contact with them, withdrew from the match when the suspicious betting patterns came to light.At the time of his provisional suspension in May, Jogia, who is of Indian descent, 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."It's shocking. With everything that's going on in snooker - the corruption - they couldn't take it out on the top boys because of where they are in the world but I've done nothing wrong and all of a sudden they take it out on me."It means Jogia will not be allowed to compete on the baize until after the 2014 World Championship.Read more https://www1.skysports.com/snooker/news/12243/8270612/