Tennis player’s ban for fixing matches increased to 3 years on appeal

LONDON (AP) — French tennis player Samuel Bensoussan had his ban from the sport for match-fixing increased to three years on appeal, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said on Wednesday.

Bensoussan had originally been banned for one year and 11 months for fixing singles and doubles matches in lower-tier events for an organized crime syndicate based in Belgium.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport increased the ban to three years for the 34-year-old Bensoussan, whose ATP singles ranking peaked at No. 405 in June 2018.

The ITIA published the CAS verdict which stated the “investigations uncovered a criminal organization that corrupted at least 181 players worldwide and involved the manipulation of at least 375 tennis matches.”

A criminal case in Belgium led to a five-year prison sentence for the syndicate leader.

Bensoussan appealed to CAS to overturn his initial ban and the ITIA asked the sports court to increase it to 6 ½ years.

The three CAS judges declined to order Bensoussan to repay 1,000 euros ($1,150) tennis investigators claimed he received for fixing one of the matches in 2018.

___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis