LONDON: The Tennis Integrity Unit has fined and suspended a Belarusian chair umpire and a Greek tournament director for match-fixing and betting offences. Umpire Alexey Izotov was suspended for three years and fined USD 10,000 on Thursday for failing to report a corrupt approach and of soliciting other umpires to become involved in manipulation of match scoring.
The Tennis Integrity Unit said that 22-year-old Izotov failed to report a corrupt approach he received in November 2019 while he was officiating as a chair umpire at an ITF Women's event in Minsk, Belarus. The approach allegedly offered him payment in return for delaying the inputting of scores to his scoring device which would allow others to bet on matches.
Tournament director Antonis Kalaitzakis was suspended for 20 months and fined USD 6,000 after admitting to betting on tennis and failing to report knowledge or suspicion of corruption to the Tennis Integrity Unit. Four months of the suspension and USD 3,000 of the fine were suspended on condition that no further breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program are committed.
The TIU said Kalaitzakis held online betting accounts through which he placed 127 wagers on tennis between 2013 and 2016, in breach of laws prohibiting any form of betting on tennis. He was also found to have failed to report knowledge or suspicion of corruption by a third party. 37-year-old Kalaitzakis is a tournament director for ITF events in Greece.