Neil Goulding in Telford

Steve Davis is adamant anyone caught of match-fixing should be banned from the sport. The six-time world champion admits he was "shocked" with revelations of an alleged betting scandal at the Maplin UK Championship.

Bookies halted betting after substantial sums of cash were wagered on a 9-3 win - the final score - for favourite Maguire in his first-round match with Burnett at the BBC-televised tournament.

The WPBSA, the sport's governing body, have launched an official investigation into the matter and have encouraged anyone with information to come forward.

"If any player, with legal proof, is caught to be involved, then they should be banned," revealed Davis. "If the whistle is blown on a player, that's very serious. You cannot have people in the game who are prepared to match-fix.

It would be unfair on other players, fans, the betting public and lots of other people.

"There was concern that round-robin snooker at the Grand Prix in Aberdeen left itself open to abuse, but it has been a shock to the system that there's been suggestions of match-fixing at such a prestigious tournament as the UK Championship."

Davis has been a professional for 30 years and in that time has seen South African Peter Francisco and Australian Quinten Hann banned and suspended from the sport.

Francisco was banned for five years after professionals at the time deemed him guilty of "not giving of his best" in a 10-2 defeat to Jimmy White in the first round of the 1995 World Championship.

Hann was suspended from the professional tour for eight years having been found guilty of intention to fix a match.

The punishment was handed down after a newspaper sting provided the WPBSA with audio and visual evidence of the Australian offering to pre-arrange a defeat in the China Open but Davis believes it's foolish to start labelling either player guilty at thus early stage.

He added: "I don't think at this stage we can't start finger-pointing, you can do that. I'd certainly always prefer to give the player the benefit of the doubt until something was proven.

"There's always been rumours of things happening in the game and, perhaps there have been, but you need that proof.

Graeme Dott, the former world champion and a friend and practice partner of both Maguire and Burnett, has also called for anyone caught match-fixing to be given a life ban. "Any allegations of match-fixing are tarnishing the sport, but I'd be very surprised if Stephen and Jamie did anything.