Tennis umpire handed lengthy ban for 12 breaches of anti-corruption protocols
A national-level tennis umpire from the Dominican Republic has been suspended and fined by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) following 12 breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP).
Juan Gabriel Castro has been banned for six years and fined $6,000 after he failed to respond to an ITIA notice of charge that was related to three matches.
The official was accused of “manipulating scoring entry to contrive the scorecard and facilitate corruption”.
According to the TACP regulations, “a ‘Deemed Sanction’ may be issued to individuals who elect not to respond to the ITIA’s investigations and arbitration process. Individuals have 10 business days to appeal the imposition of a Deemed Sanction to an independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer”.
With Castro failing to respond to the ITIA investigation he was handed the lengthy suspension and fine and he opted not appeal against the sentence.
The Dominican Republic official had been provisionally suspended since 7 November last year and that time will be credited against his period of ineligibility, meaning he will be able to return on 6 November 2030.
Castro will not be able to officiate or attend any tennis events authorised by the members of the ITIA (ATP, ITF, WTA, Tennis Australia, Fédération Française de Tennis, Wimbledon and USTA) or any national association until he completes his suspension in 2030.
Corruption remains a big problem in tennis with officials and players often approached by gamblers to fix matches and sometimes it can be as innocuous as serving a set amount of double faults during a clash.
Tennis News
Exclusive – Why betting and tennis need to be linked even if there are huge risks
ITIA confident that the vast majority of tennis matches are fair and honest
However, ITIA CEO Karen Moorhouse told Tennis365 in an interview that they are making big strides in tackling the issue, especially when it comes to educating those involved in the sport.
“Tennis is good at recognising that it has a vulnerability to corruption,” she said. “It is part of our role to work with the ITF and promote education to ensure that players performing on a professional stage understand that there may be people looking to approach them and seek to influence them and encourage them to make bad decisions.
“It’s our job to work really closely with the betting industry to ensure that we are getting the right information when issues do arise. We want to find out about a problem as soon as possible and look to remove those people from the game.”
Castro is one of dozens of individuals (players and officials) currently on the suspended list on the official ITIA website with bans ranging from provisional suspension pending hearings to lifetime bans.