Snooker is bracing itself for another drugs scandal less than a month after three players were punished for failing random tests. It is believed that one of the game's biggest names has failed the stringent testing procedure.
However, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association said in a statement yesterday: "WPBSA company secretary Martyn Blake wishes it to be known that under WPBSA drug control procedure no notification has been given that a leading player has failed a random drugs test carried out by the Sports Council.
"No disciplinary action can be commenced until both samples taken at any test have proved positive. Should a test prove positive a disciplinary hearing will be organised by the WPBSA in accordance with its agreed procedure and the findings made known."
The latest incident isn't thought to have taken place during the Embassy World Championship which finished in Sheffield a week ago.
It is believed the substance concerned is cannabis and was not unwittingly taken in a cold cure.
In the most recent case, former world billiards champion Peter Gilchrist was fined £100 after traces of Pseudoephedrine - found in common flu remedies - were discovered in a urine sample.
However, Paul Hunter, the 19-year-old Grand Prix champion from Leeds, was fined £4,550 and docked 1,140 ranking points after admitting using marijuana during a ranking tournament in Bournemouth last October.
A lesser known player, Stephen Ormerod from Nelson, Lancashire, was fined £800 after a routine sample at the 1997 Benson and Hedges Championship revealed traces of cannabis and Nor-androsterone.
At the time leading manager Ian Doyle, whose stable includes former world champions Stephen Hendry, Ken Doherty and UK champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, claimed there wasn't a widespread drugs problem in the game.
"When you compare our record with other sports it's miles better," said Doyle.
"It's inevitable in today's society the odd player from time to time is going to get caught."
This latest allegation, if confirmed, would be major embarrassment for snooker and its high profile president, Lord Jeffrey Archer.
The game is about to become embroiled in another civil war following the announcement of an extraordinary general meeting on June 4th, called to overthrow chairman Rex Williams and his board.
Williams and his colleagues were yesterday attending the sport's annual golf day at Carden Park in Cheshire.
Australia is at risk of being inundated with anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in the lead-up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics, a senior customs officer has warned. In a written report, Inspector Craig Fleming said there was a widespread belief the Sydney Games could be the "dirtiest" in history.
Organised crime had moved into sport, with individual criminals and syndicates involved in the trafficking of sports drugs, the report said. The trade was estimated to be worth a million pounds a year internationally.
