Snooker: Higgins returns to competition

Former world snooker champion Alex "Hurricane" Higgins is set to return to action five years after he last played competitively.

The volatile 53-year-old Ulsterman, who has been battling throat cancer, has entered the Benson and Hedges Championship qualifying tournament and is drawn to meet 22-year-old English hopeful Lee Spick on October 23.

Higgins won the world championship in 1972 and 1982 but clashes with authority punctuated a colourful career.