French line judge latest to be banned by TIU for betting breaches
The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) has banned French line judge David Rocher after he was found guilty of breaching betting rules.
Rocher has been banned from officiating for 18 months, with four months suspended, and fined $5,000 for placing 11 bets on tennis matches between January and October 2019, thus breaching rules laid out in the Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme (TACP).
He was found guilty of breaking TACP section D.1.a which states that “no covered person shall, directly or indirectly, wager on the outcome or any other aspect of any event or any other tennis competition.”
The line judge was also charged with failure to co-operate with the TIU investigation under section F.2.b, but contested this charge after admitting to placing the aforementioned bets.
The case was overseen by anti-corruption hearing officer Ian Mill QC, with Rocher banned for six months as a result of the betting offences and 18 months – with four suspended – for a lack of co-operation. The bans will run concurrently from the date of the ruling on 6 December until 6 February 2022, with Rocher unable to officiate or attend any officially authorised tennis match in that period.
Rocher joins several other tennis players or officials to be banned by the TIU in recent months, as the integrity body continues its clampdown on match-fixing.
Last month, professional Spanish tennis player Enrique Lopez Perez was banned for eight years after being found guilty of match-fixing, while Bulgarian player Aleksandrina Naydenova was banned for life. In October, brothers Karen and Yuri Khachatryan received bans for similar offences, with Karen banned for life and Yuri prohibited from playing for 10 years.
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