The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has suspended Bolivian tennis official Percy Flores from the sport for 12 years.
Flores has also been sanctioned with a $15,000 fine in regards to multiple breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP). Flores is a white badge umpire, and did not contest the ITIA’s charges.
In detail, she was found to have committed 31 breaches of the TACP between November 2021 and October 2022.
“These rules are there to protect everyone in sport and outline how people must report any corrupt approach and list all offences in the program including match fixing, courtsiding and other corrupt activities,” an ITIA statement read.
The breaches included routine manipulation of scores for betting purposes – by purposely entering the wrong score into the umpire’s handheld device – at ITF World Tennis Tour events and soliciting another official to engage in corrupt conduct.
Richard McLaren, Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer Professor, determined that Flores’ breaches of the TACP merited a sanction of 15 years in accordance with sanctioning guidelines.
However, he applied a reduction of three years’ suspension due to ‘mitigating circumstances’ – including the umpire’s early admission of the charges and general good conduct during the investigative process.
The suspension was backdated to the start of Flores’ provisional suspension on 8 December 2022 and will end on 7 December 2034.
During this time, the agency has prohibited her from officiating at or attending any tennis event authorised or sanctioned by the governing bodies of tennis.
This week, the ITIA also announced that it has issued a sanction to Australian tennis coach Mark Philippoussis for breaching tennis’ betting sponsorship rules.
Philippoussis, a former top-10 ATP singles player and current professional coach, has now been fined $10,000 and issued with a suspended ban of four months after receiving payment for providing a voiceover to promotional content for a gaming operator.
The group stated: “Philippoussis cooperated fully with the ITIA investigation and did not contest the charge.”
