Snooker gets a sting

It also added that Hann was prepared to throw a game at the World Championships, saying the 27-year-old had replied: 8220;No, I8217;ve got no problems.8221;

Hann was beaten 2-5 by Doherty in China and, at the recently concluded World Championships in Sheffield, northern England, lost 2-10 to another former world champion in Peter Ebdon.

Hann attributed the scale of the Ebdon defeat to losing his favourite cue, a point that was mentioned during BBC television8217;s coverage of the match. The sting took place in March as Hann played his final match of the World Championship qualifiers in Prestatyn, North Wales.

It said it had not published earlier after being warned by lawyers that any article could have interfered with Hann8217;s trial for sexual assault.

The Sun ran the story accusing world No 22 Hann of bribery under the front page headline of 8220;Potcha!8221;. This was both a snooker reference and a harking back to its celebrated 1982 headline of 8220;Gotcha!8221; which accompanied the paper8217;s account of the sinking of Argentinian battlecrusier by a British submarine during the Falklands War in the South Atlantic.