Billiards hit by loose cannon

WHEN you think of drugs in sport, you usually think of cycling or athletics. Sometimes swimming. But never billiards.

Yesterday, though, Germany's first case of doping in billiards was announced after national champion Axel Buescher tested positive for an EPO masking agent.

Buescher, banned for one year and stripped of his title, said the masking agent was in prescription medicine he failed to have approved.