Pro tennis players banned for betting-related corruption

Professional tennis players Mihaita Damian and Calum Puttergill have been banned from playing by tennis authorities over betting-related corruption offences. Romanian tennis player Mihaita Damian received a one year ban and €5,000 fine, whilst Australian tennis player Calum Puttergill was suspended for six months and given a fine of $10,000 on Friday. The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), the anti-corruption unit set up by international tennis bodies, found that 23-year-old Damian, who is ranked 1,645th in doubles, held two online betting accounts with bwin which he used to place 199 bets on tennis matches between 24th November 2011 and 15th February 2013. Damian’s ban is effective immediately. Meanwhile the TIU reports that Puttergill was found guilty of placing nearly 300 online bets on tennis matches between May 2012 and November 2014. The Tennis Anti-Corruption Program prohibits all players from betting on any professional tennis match at any time or any place and last week the TIU reported that

there has been a spike in suspicious betting. 23-year-old Puttergill, who is ranked 1,207th in the world, will see his sanctions halved if he commits no further violations before June 11 2017.