Unlawful Deed Forces Tennis Bodies to Impose an Astounding 16-Year Ban on Russian-Born Player

Due to her involvement in match-fixing, Ksenia Palkina, a Russian-born Kyrgyzstan tennis player, has been suspended for 16 years. According to The ITIA (International Tennis Integrity Agency), she committed offenses in 2018 and 2019, which fall under the rule of the TACP (Tennis Anti-Corruption Program). 

Ksenia Palkina will serve her ban till 2029

Even though Palkina, received 16 years of ban, her suspension was backdated to the start of her provisional suspension, which was on 22nd November 2019. However, six of those 16 years have already taken place. As a result, she will serve the suspension till 2029. Certainly, this is the end of her career as she is already 32 years old. Also, she won’t be able to attend any tennis event or program during her suspension period. 

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Along with her suspension, she also received a fine of $142,000. According to TACP, she breached three rules to receive this kind of suspension. 

Rule no.1 was the Section of D.1.d of the 2018 and 2019 TACP: “No Covered Person shall, directly or indirectly, contrive, attempt to contrive, agree to contrive, or conspire to contrive the outcome, or any other aspect, of any Event.”

Rule no.2 was section D.1.e of the 2018 and 2019 TACP which says, “No Covered Person shall, directly or indirectly, solicit, facilitate, or conspire to solicit or facilitate any Player to not use his or her best efforts in any Event.”

Also, Palkina breached the rule no.3, section D.1.f of the 2018 and 2019 TACP that details,  “No Covered Person shall, directly or indirectly, solicit, receive, agree in the future to receive, or conspire to solicit, receive or agree in the future to receive any money, benefit or Consideration on the basis of not giving their best efforts in any Event and/or negatively influencing another Player’s best efforts in any Event.”

Notably, Palkina won 11 singles titles in her career along with 27 doubles tournaments. She last played in September 2019 at France. 

Other men’s tennis players who received bans for match-fixing

In 2021, six Moroccan tennis players received bans for match-fixing. Their names were Anas Chakrouni, Amine Ahouda, Mohamed Zakaria Khalil, Soufiane El Mesbahi, Ayoub Chakrouni, and Yassir Kilani. According to reports, their suspension varied from a nine years to a life-time ban. 

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