Higgins placed bet against himself - report

Former world champion John Higgins, who was suspended from snooker last week, tried to bet against himself at last year's world championships, a newspaper alleged yesterday.

The fresh claims in the News of the World against Higgins came as he vowed to "vigorously defend" himself against allegations he agreed to deliberately lose frames in exchange for £261,000 (€300,000).

In the latest allegations, the tabloid reported yesterday that Higgins telephoned a bookmaker during a break in last year's world championship final against Shaun Murphy.

A call centre operator who took the call said Higgins told her: "I just want to cover myself." She told the newspaper she took advice from a manager and refused his bet because it was a match he was involved in. Higgins went on to win the match against Murphy 18-9 to clinch his third world title.

He was suspended last week after the News of the World filmed him having what the newspaper says was a conversation in which he agreed to fix a match.

In a statement released yesterday, Higgins said he was "100 per cent innocent" and would fight to clear his name.

The Scot said the past few days had been "emotionally draining for me and my family".

He said: "In the last week I have experienced a whole range of emotions: despair, frustration, anger, rage and most of all a sense of betrayal."

Higgins said he believed the meeting with the journalists was to arrange a series of tournaments in the Ukraine.