JOHN HIGGINS WILL today learn whether he has succeeded in clearing his name following the frame-fixing allegations which shook snooker earlier this year.

An independent hearing at a tribunal begins today and will last two days before it decides whether Higgins is guilty of frame fixing. If he is found innocent, Higgins could return to snooker at the World Open in Glasgow in two weeks.

PA reports that Sport Resolutions, a dispute resolution service, will host the hearing which is to be held behind closed doors. World Snooker should announce the hearing’s findings tomorrow.

The News of the World, in a ‘sting’ operation in March, alleged that Higgins accepted sums of money to fix the outc0me of frames in matches on a visit to Ukraine.

In a statement in May, Higgins said that he had been worried when it was suggested he throw frames.

“In all honesty I became very worried at the way the conversation developed in Kiev. When it was suggested that I throw frames in return for large sums of money, I was really spooked. I just wanted to get out of the hotel and on to the plane home. I didn’t know if this was the Russian mafia or who we were dealing with. At that stage I felt the best course of action was just to play along with these guys and get out of Russia [sic].”