BIZARRE: Tennis Player Suspended for Indulging in Match Fixing

Cheating in any form is wrong and unfortunate. And in recent years, tennis has seen a fair share of corruption and cheating in the form of match-fixing.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has now banned 24-year-old Columbian player Carlos Andres Sepulveda Navarro after he breached the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP) rules.

ITIA has banned Navarro for three years on the account of breaching five rules of the TACP. Navarro admitted to the offenses that took place between 2015 and 2020 and his ban extends to various other degrees as well.

He is now prohibited from playing any matches sanctioned by the ATP or the ITF. Moreover, he cannot coach any player during the ban period and he cannot attend any tennis events as well.

“The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has today confirmed that Colombian tennis player Carlos Andrés Sepúlveda Navarro has been banned from the sport for three years after admitting to multiple breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP) rules. In addition to the ban, Sepúlveda Navarro was fined $10,000 with $8,000 suspended,” said the statement from ITIA.

Notable offenses Carlos Navarro committed under Tennis Anti-Corruption Program rules

Navarro breached five rules of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP) rules- Section D.1.a, Section D.1.d, Section D.1.f, Section D.2.a(i), Section D.2.c.

These sections deal with match-fixing or any other offense that tries to determine the outcome of a match through the wrong methods. Moreover, failure to report such advances to the ITIA is also penalized.

Section D.1.a. “No Covered Person shall, directly or indirectly, wager, conspire to wager or attempt to wager on the outcome or any other aspect of any Event or any other tennis competition.”

Section D.2.a(i) “In the event any Player is approached by any person who offers or provides any type of money, benefit or Consideration to a Player to (i) influence the outcome or any other aspect of any Event… it shall be the Player’s obligation to report such incident to the ITIA as soon as possible.”

Carlos Navarro never made it through to the ATP Tour and his career’s highest ranking was 1579. Earlier during the French Open 2021, Russian WTA player, Yana Sizikova was arrested because of match-fixing allegations.

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