Suspected match-fixing in tennis – Dagsavisen

By Stian Johnsen

 
 

The secret documents reveal suspicions of widespread rigging of matches at the highest level. Players in the core of 16 top athletes, all of which have been ranked among the 50 best in the world, has received continue to compete, even though they have been on the radar of international tennis organizations for several years.

 
 

Neither the BBC or BuzzFeed naming some of the players, but writes that eight of them participating in the Grand Slam tournament Australian Open, which started Monday.

 
 

Million Gains

 
 

The case started in 2007, when the Association of Tennis ATP and spark ice investigation organ TIU started investigation of suspicious gambling on a match between Nikolay Davydenko and Martin Vassallo Argüello. The two players were acquitted of having violated some rules, but the investigation has evolved into a far greater scrutiny of a betting network with links to top players.

 
 

The documents from the investigation shows that gamblingsyndikater Russia, northern Italy and Sicily earned several million to wager money on games that investigators believe was fixed. Three of these matches were played at Wimbledon tournament, according to media.

 
 

– Dropped scrutiny

 
 

A confidential report from 2008 states that 28 players should be investigated in connection with these struggles, but the findings in the report was never followed up. The reason is that tennis organizations were recommended not to pursue old cases when they created a new anti-corruption legislation in 2009.

 
 

– As a result of this, it was not opened new investigations of some of the players who were mentioned in the report from 2008, said a spokesman for TIU.

 
 

Mark Phillips, one of the investigators behind the report, told the BBC that there were particular suspicion towards a group of around ten players who may have lost on purpose.

 
 

– This was them we thought repeated violations several times, and that was the root of the problem. The evidence against them was really strong, says Phillips.

 
 

ATP refuse

 
 

The allegations that the investigation was kept secret and stopped, rejected Monday by the head of the ATP Tour, Chris Kermode.

 
 

– Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) and our organizations reject any allegation that evidence of match-fixing has been suppressed in any way, or that it has been thoroughly investigated, said Kermode when he met reporters in conjunction with the Australian Open beginning in Melbourne.

 
 

– The reports from the BBC and BuzzFeed mainly refers to events from ten years back. We will investigate any new information, which we always do, says Kermode. (© NTB)