Bulgarian umpire banned for life over corruption violations

LONDON: Bulgarian umpire Pavel Atanasov has been banned from tennis for life after withdrawing his appeal for betting-related violations and charges of corruption, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said on Friday.

Atanasov, a national-level official, was also given a $10,000 fine for 21 breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP). “In withdrawing from proceedings, Atanasov effectively admitted liability for numerous TACP offenses between 2019 and 2023,” the ITIA said.

“Including the manipulation of scoring data of matches for betting purposes, facilitating wagering, conspiring to commit corruption offences, wagering on tennis matches, and failure to report corrupt approaches.”

Atanasov is permanently prohibited from officiating at or attending any tennis event authorised or sanctioned by the members of the ITIA or any national association, in the ban effective from March 4, 2024. On Monday, Brazilian-Italian umpire Antonio Casa was suspended for seven years and six months after admitting to seven breaches of the TACP.