The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has confirmed
that a Bulgarian official has been banned from the sport for life after breaching
more than 20 rules of the Tennis Anti-Corruption program. Lower-tier tennis
remains one of the most affected sports in the world when it comes to batting previously, a report suggested that as many as 180 players participating in
lower-grade tournaments were involved in different kinds of match-fixing.
As per the latest report, Pavel Atanasov was banned from the
sport for breaching the rules to facilitate betting. The report stated that Atanasov,
who ended up admitting to the charges in the investigation, conducted multiple offences
including changing the scoring date to assist in betting on tennis matches which is
an offence according to the Tennis Anti-Corruption Code.
“The International Tennis Integrity Agency can confirm that
Bulgarian tennis official Pavel Atanasov has been banned from the sport for
life following 21 breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program,” the statement
read on Friday. “In withdrawing from proceedings, Atanasov effectively admitted
liability for numerous TACP offences between 2019 and 2023. 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.”