By Elliott West
Introduction
Snooker has produced several controversial players over the years and one that definitely comes to mind is Shailesh (Joe) Jogia. Joe as he was known on the professional circuit started off as a very promising player but unfortunately got caught up in the darker side of the sport that involves large sums of money placed on individual matches, a behaviour that is often exposed due to unusual betting patterns.
A Bright Start
Jogia really started to make an impact in snooker at the end of the 1990s, winning his biggest claim to fame in 1998 when claimed the English Open title. The Leicester born player would go on to reach the last 32 of four ranking events in the early 2000s including the 2004 Grand Prix and British Open. Joe is someone who defeated some of the best players in the sport including Joe Swail, Mark King and Stuart Bingham.
Joe who made a 137 break in the qualifying rounds of the 2009 Grand Prix and a 147 in pro-am play, briefly dropped off the main tour after the 2006-07 season but was able to regain his place when he topped the pro-am International Series through a wildcard placing as he was not a member of his national governing body at the time. This came just before the 2008-09 season. Following this stroke of good fortune, Jogia managed to qualify for the last 32 stages of the 2010 World Open, his first successful qualification for six years but ending up losing to Liu Song 3-1.
He also qualified for the 2011 UK Championship, beating Jamie Cope 6-3 but unfortunately was drawn against Mark Williams in the first round. Although he managed to curb the Welshman in the match to tie the game at 4-4, his downfall came after a nasty kick and went on to lose the match 4-6. He also did well in the former Players Tour Championship and reached the semi-final of the first event but drew Ronnie O’Sullivan and lost 2-4. Jogia had two other last 16 placings in this series and ended up finishing 28th on the PTC Order of Merit. However, this is where the luck stopped and Jogia was only able to win one more match with a season finish of 47 in the world rankings.
The Fatal Moment
In May 2012, World Snooker announced that Joe would be suspended from the tournament for irregular betting on his match, a claim that the Leicester man strongly refuted. It involved a match that he played against Matt Selt in the Snooker Shoot-Out. A large number of bets were placed on Joe to lose the match with Joggia having a knee injury at the time and pulling out of the match the day before. 19 bets were placed by people that Joe was in regular communication, contacting them 77 times and 11 of these bets were placed before the player declared he had a knee injury.
It would take until the July of 2012 before the disciplinary panel came out with their verdict. Jogia was banned until 2014 and fined £2,000, losing his ranking after his tour membership ended. This two-year ban was due to be appealed by Joe but he pulled out of the appeal at the eleventh hour. A decision that greatly angered the governing body incurred substantial legal costs in preparation to conduct the appeal hearing.
Jogia felt that he had been treated as a scapegoat, commenting on the decision at the time, saying:
“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.”
Joe Jogia
Summary
Joe Jogia is not unique to this type of gambling behaviour with Quinten Hann Stephen Lee, David John, Yu Delu and Cao Yupeng also falling foul of the rules and being banished from the sport as a result. Jogia’s case proves that there does exist, a small but unsavoury betting racket under the surface. The lesson being to any player who attempts this type of illegality, you will be found out, and highly likely fined and banned from the sport.
