Corruption charge earns tennis player ban
Author:
Megan Butler
Colombian tennis player Carlos Andrés Sepúlveda Navarro faces a three-year ban from the sport from the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). The ITIA has given their verdict after Sepúlveda Navarro admitted to various charges which break the agency’s anti-corruption rules.
Colombian tennis player Carlos Andrés Sepúlveda Navarro has been banned for three years over corruption charges following a verdict by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). ?Tima Miroshnichenko/Pexels
ITIA has stated that these breaches occurred from 2015 to 2020. They are directly relevant to the realm of sports betting as they involve conspiring to influence the results of a match, possibly for financial gain or other benefits.
Sports betting is in fact legal in Colombia, though interfering with matches is not. Sportsbook and online gambling company BtoBet also became a partner to William Hill’s sports betting ventures in the country as of last year.
The ban is effective from 8 June 2021 to 8 June 2024. In this time, Sepúlveda Navarro will not be allowed to play in, coach at or even attend any tennis event that is regulated by the main tennis governing organizations worldwide. He has also been fined $10,000, though $8,000 of that amount has been suspended for the time being.
Which breaches of TACP rules did Sepúlveda Navarro admit to?
According to the official ITIA press statement, Sepúlveda Navarro admitted to breaking the following sections of its Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP) rules:
Section D.1.d. “No Covered Person shall, directly or indirectly, contrive or attempt to contrive the outcome or any other aspect of any Event.”
Section D.1.f. “No Covered Person shall, directly or indirectly, solicit or accept any money, benefit or Consideration with the intention of negatively influencing a Player’s best efforts in any Event.”
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.”
Section D.2.c. “For the avoidance of doubt, a failure by any Covered Person to comply with (i) the reporting obligations set out in Section D. and/or (ii) the duty to cooperate under Section F.2.shall constitute a Corruption Offense for all purposes of the Program”.
Who is Carlos Andrés Sepúlveda Navarro?
Prior to his ban, Colombian tennis player Sepúlveda Navarro achieved a singles ranking in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which oversees men’s professional tennis, of 1,579th in the world. That was in January 2020. He is currently ranked 1,733 and is 24 years old.
What is the International Tennis Integrity Agency?
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) was formed as an independent organization created by the International Governing Bodies of Tennis to safeguard integrity in the realm of professional tennis around the world.
It’s new name and aims were established in January 2021. Before that, it was known as the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), which was created specifically to address corruption in the sport.
Anti-corruption and betting regulation is one facet of the ITIA’s work. However, they now also deal with ensuring player safety and abolishing drug use. Recently, the former chief executive of UK Anti-Doping, Nicole Sapstead, left her role to join the ITIA as their Senior Director for Anti-Doping.
When Sapstead joined the team in May 2021, ITIA chief executive Jonny Gray told Reuters:
“There can be nothing more important than clean sport, whether that is in terms of match fixing or anti-doping and the Governing Bodies of Tennis have made a very clear commitment to just that through the establishment of the ITIA.”
