Another blow to Tennis: ITF bans two umpires for gambling, four others to be investigated

New Delhi: Weeks after match-fixing allegations rocked the tennis fraternity, the game has witnessed a fresh controversy as two international umpires have been banned on charges of corruption in the past year, while four others have been suspended pending the completion of an investigation.

According to a report in The Guardian, Umpires from Kazakhstan, Turkey and Ukraine are among those alleged to have taken bribes from betting syndicates in exchange for manipulating live scores during matches.

The Guardian said that the offences related to matches in eastern Europe on the Futures Tour, which is the lowest level of professional tennis.

Croatian Denis Pitner was suspended in August for 12 months after sending information about a player to a coach during a tournament and regularly logging on to a betting account from which bets were placed on tennis matches.

The story follows allegations about elite-level match-fixing made by the BBC and BuzzFeed shortly before the start of the Australian Open last month.

In response to those claims, an independent review into anti-corruption measures was announced, to be overseen by the TIU.

(With Agency inputs)