Italian tennis players banned for match-fixing

Jul 22, 2016 04:26 pm

Italian Marco Cecchinato has been banned for 18 months and fined 40,000 euros ($60,000) for his role in match-fixing and sports corruption, the Italian tennis federation (FIT) announced yesterday.

Cecchinato, who was a fourth-man reserve for the Italian Davis Cup team last week, is one of three Italian players, along with Riccardo Accardi and Antonio Campo, to face sanctions.

He is notably accused of altering the outcome of a match with Polish opponent Kamil Majchrzak at a Moroccan challenger event in October 2015, with the aim of benefiting financially from illegally betting on the match.

Accardi (12 months and 20,000 euros) and Campo (four months, 10,000 euros) were also sanctioned for their role in an affair which saw the trio collude to rig matches.

Cecchinato was also found guilty of "giving confidential information about a meeting between Andreas Seppi and John Isner at Roland Garros 2015".

He has the right to appeal but, if rejected, the Palermo-based player will be suspended until Jan 17, 2018.