Tag: Sports integrity

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has suspended Bolivian tennis official Percy Flores for 12 years over a series of corruption charges.

Flores, who was also fined $15,000 (£11,673/€13,609) by the ITIA, was ruled to have breached the Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme (TACP).

Some 31 breaches were noted between November 2021 and October 2022. These included routine manipulation of scores for betting purposes by entering the wrong score into the umpire’s handheld device.

Flores, a white badge umpire, did not contest the charges and had his suspension backdated to 8 December 2022. The ITIA also reduced this by three years due to mitigating circumstances, including early admission of charges.

As such, the suspension will run until 7 December 2034. Flores cannot officiate at or attend any event authorised by tennis’ governing bodies.

Corruption breaches

In terms of the specific breaches, ITIA noted several sections of both the 2021 and 2022 editions of the TACP.

Featur..

The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) recorded 50 suspicious betting alerts in the second quarter, with football again the main area of concern.

The Q2 total was lower than the 88 alerts reported in the same quarter last year, but higher than 48 in Q1 2023. IBIA initially reported 40 reports for the first quarter, although this was later revised upwards.

Football generated the most alerts for the second consecutive quarter, with 19 representing 38% of the Q1 total.

IBIA also noted 14 alerts for tennis, eight for table tennis and five for darts. In addition, there was one alert each for boxing, bowls, esports and badminton.

34 alerts in Europe

In terms of geography, Europe was by far the main source of suspicious betting alerts, with 34 across the continent.

Of the European alerts, tennis was the primary source with 11, followed by table tennis and football with eight each. Darts competitions were responsible for five, then one each for badminton, boxing and bowls..

The National Football League (NFL) has suspended another four players for breaching rules on betting.

Isaiah Rodgers and Rashod Berry, both of the Indianapolis Colts, were suspended until at least the end of the 2023 season. Free agent Demetrius Taylor was also banned for the entire 2023 campaign.

All three players were found to have placed wagers on NFL games during the 2022 season. They can petition for reinstatement at the end of the upcoming 2023 campaign.

Meanwhile, Nicholas Petit-Frere of the Tennessee Titans was handed a six-game suspension for betting on non-NFL sports at the club facility.

Read the full story on iGB North America

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has issued life bans to Nastja Kolar and Alexandra Riley for multiple breaches of its Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme (TACP).

Slovenia’s Kolar and Riley from the US committed 25 and 15 offences respectively between 2015 and 2020. Both players were provisionally suspended in March pending a decision on sanctions.

Nastja Kolar’s offences

Kolar manipulated six matches in which she played, and conspired with Riley to do the same in four matches against one another. Her career World Tennis Association (WTA) ranking peaked inside the top 200 players, for singles and doubles.

The ITAI found her guilty of betting on tennis, facilitating betting by sharing information from the courts (courtsiding), and failing to report offences by Riley. In addition to her ban, Kolar will pay a fine of $175,000 (£137,176/€159,322), close to the maximum penalty of $250,000.

Alexandra Riley’s breaches

Meanwhile, Riley was found to have manipulated aspects..