ITIA suspends tennis umpire for manipulating scores for betting purposes

The Bolivian tennis umpire Percy Flores has been suspended for 12 years.

Bolivia.- Another Bolivian tennis umpire has been suspended from the sport. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has suspended Percy Flores for 12 years over the routine manipulation of scores for betting purposes.

The white badge umpire has also been fined $15,000 in relation to 31 breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP) committed between November 2021 and October 2022. She was accused of intentionally entering the wrong score into the umpire’s handheld device at ITF World Tennis Tour events and soliciting another official to engage in corrupt conduct. Flores did not deny the claims.

The ITIA said: “These rules are there to protect everyone in sport and outline how people must report any corrupt approach and list all offences in the program including match-fixing, courtsiding and other corrupt activities.”

It was decided that the breaches merited a ban of 15 years, but the suspension was reduced to 12 years due to mitigating circumstances including an early admission of the charges and good conduct during the investigation. The suspension is backdated to the beginning of a provisional suspension on December 8, 2022, so it will last until December 7, 2034. During this period, Flores is prohibited from officiating at or attending any tennis event authorised or sanctioned by governing bodies.

The suspension comes two months after the ITIA suspended Bolivian chair umpire Heriberto Morales Churata for six years for breaches of TACP betting rules. He was also fined $10,000.

Morales Churata was found to have manipulated tennis scores for betting purposes, incorrectly entering them into a handheld device at ITF World Tennis Tour events in 2021 and 2022. The six-year suspension has been backdated to the start of a provisional suspension declared on December 8 last year, so it will run until December 7, 2028. Churata must not umpire at nor attend any tennis event authorised by the ITIA.