Graeme Dott suspended from snooker circuit pending court proceedings in Scotland

The WPBSA announced on Wednesday via its website: "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."

Since this statement, several online publications - starting with the Scottish Sun - have reported that Dott is accused of historical sex abuse against two children.

These alleged incidents took place between 1993 to 1996, and 2006 to 2010.

From Scotland, Dott has been a mainstay of the professional snooker tour since 1994.

He rose the world rankings, reaching the top 32 in 1998 before featuring in his first ranking event final in 1999 when he lost to fellow countryman Stephen Hendry 9-1 on home soil at the Scottish Open.

Dott entered the world’s elite top 16 bracket for the first time in his career for the 2001/02 season. During that same campaign, he made the 2001 British Open final where he lost 9-6 to another Scot, John Higgins.

The biggest run of his career, at that point, came in 2004 when he went all the way to the final of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Dott led Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-0 in the title fixture, but O’Sullivan went on to win 18-8 and claim his second world title.

Another ranking event runner-up spot arrived at the 2005 Malta Cup, but he hit the jackpot the following year when he defeated former winner Peter Ebdon 18-14 in a near 1am finish in the final to win the 2006 World Snooker Championship.

As the world champ, Dott lifted his second ranking trophy at the 2007 China Open in Beijing.

Dott went on to appear in four further ranking event finals - including another at the Crucible in 2010 - with his most recent being at the 2020 World Grand Prix.

‘The Pocket Dynamo’ as he is nicknamed, has a career-high world ranking of number two in the 2007/08 season.

Dott’s suspension comes just days before he was due to play in the 2025 World Snooker Championship Qualifiers at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, where he was to begin his title tilt in the second qualifying round.

However, it appears that the winner of the first qualifying round match between Wang Yuchen and Brian Cini will receive a bye and go straight through to the penultimate round, although Dott does have the right to appeal his suspension.

Now aged 47, Dott is currently ranked 56th the world. He has had a quiet season on the World Snooker Tour, reaching the last 32 of just one event, the 2024 British Open.

His last competitive outing was near the end of February in Yushan, China where he lost 5-2 to Stan Moody in the last 64.