This is the kind of news the sport really DID NOT need right before the biggest event of the season…

Graeme Dott has been suspended by WPBSA

WPBSA Statement | Graeme Dott

Graeme Dott has been suspended by the WPBSA due to a case which is scheduled to be heard before the High Court in Scotland.

Whilst court proceedings are ongoing, it would be inappropriate for the WPBSA to make any further comment.

And here is the reason for this as reported by the BBC

Ex-snooker champion Dott charged with child sex offences

Chris McLaughlin

BBC Scotland sports news correspondent

Former world snooker champion Graeme Dott has been charged with child sex offences.

The 47-year-old Scot, who won the world title in 2006, faces historical charges relating to two children who were understood to be around 10 years old at the time.

Prosecutors claim the first attack happened in the Glasgow area between 1993 and 1996.

The second charge relates to an alleged attack between 2006 and 2010

Other sources were more explicit about what Dotty allegedly did. I don’t see the need to share those details here. The whole stuff baffles me and I’m in shock. It’s not just that I struggle to associate this with Graeme who I met on countless occasions on tour and at exhibitions, and who always came across as a family man, a loving husband and father, it’s also that this, if true, the first offence happened more than 30 years ago. How come that it suddenly gets to light now? And right before the World Championship as well …