ITIA - tiu briefing note july september 2019

TIU adds greater resource to investigative and intelligence positions

Four new members of staff have joined the TIU to add experience and capacity to the unit’s investigative and intelligence functions. John Nolan and Helen Calton join as Investigators and are both highly experienced former law enforcement officers, with over 30 and 15 years’ experience respectively, covering all aspects of serious and organised crime.

Zoran Preradovic and Glen Shackel have been recruited to bring new and complementary skills to the Intelligence team. Zoran spent over 25 years in the Slovenian police service as both an officer and an intelligence analyst. A native Slovenian and Serbian speaker he also brings familiarity with other Slavic languages to his new role. Glen Shackel’s career as an intelligence analyst has combined 18 years with the Metropolitan Police in London with a variety of private sector intelligence and security organisations. The new members of staff will contribute to the effective management of an increasing workload. The TIU now has 21 members of staff, a more than threefold increase since 2016.

TIU Match Alerts - July to September 2019

Between July and September 2019 the TIU received a total of 41 match alerts through its confidential Memorandums of Understanding with the regulated betting industry. 37 of the 41 alerts came from the entry level ITF World Tennis Tour and ATP Challenger circuits. No alerts were received at the US Open.

Both the quarterly figure of 41 alerts and the January to September 2019 total of 95 alerts are the lowest recorded since 2015, the first year for which match alert data was made publicly available.

By comparison, there were 63 alerts for the third quarter in 2018 and 187 for the January to September nine-month period.

Total Match Alerts

Grand Slam

ATP Tour

WTA Tour

ATP Challenger

ITF Men

$15k

ITF Men

$25k

ITF Women

$15k

ITF Women

$25k

ITF Women

$60k

Davis, Fed Cups

TIU match alert policy

every alert reported to the TIU is recorded, assessed and followed up as an indicator that something inappropriate may have happened. It is important to appreciate that an alert on its own is not evidence of match-fixing;
there are many reasons other than corrupt activity that can explain unusual betting patterns, such as incorrect odds-setting; well-informed betting; player fitness, fatigue and form; playing conditions and personal circumstances;
where analysis of a match alert does suggest corrupt activity, the TIU will conduct a full, confidential investigation.

TIU Education Update

The TIU Education Team attended the Junior Fed Cup and Davis Cup Finals, held at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Florida. The event sees 96 juniors from 32 national teams compete across six days and has previously been played by many current top 100 professionals on both the ATP and WTA tours. Education sessions and outreach activities were delivered to players, coaches and officials throughout the week, as well as to the USTA Player Development team.

September saw The Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT) announced as the first recipient of a Gold Level Recognition of National Training Centres (NTCs) award from the ITF, and in turn, the first NTC to successfully fulfil all of the TIU Integrity Criteria requirements as part of this programme. The criteria are designed to support NTCs in creating the right environment around developing players, with an emphasis on informing and educating players, coaches and staff. The TIU continue to work with the next group of nations from across the globe who are working towards recognition.

Further development of the Tennis Integrity Protection Programme (TIPP) has resulted in two new modules for coaches and tournament staff being launched this month. In addition, a new registration process has been introduced making access to TIPP easier for tournament staff, coaches and officials required to complete the course through partnerships developed with the TIU.

Tennis Integrity Supervisory Board approves amalgamation of anti-doping and anti-corruption functions in expended integrity organisation

In September, the Tennis Integrity Supervisory Board approved the principle of combining both

anti-corruption and anti-doping functions within a single, combined and expanded integrity organisation for professional tennis.

Under the proposed new structure, anti-corruption and anti-doping will combine in a single location with shared services, including player education. Importantly in terms of governance, the new organisation will be operationally independent of the sport.

To ensure a seamless transfer of functions, the new organisation (which will be named to appropriately reflect its wider role) will take on full responsibility for tennis anti-doping from the ITF on 1 January 2021.

http://www.tennisintegrityunit.com/media-releases/tennis-integrity-supervisory-board-confirms-agreement-expanded-integrity-organisation-bringing-together-anti-corruption-and-anti-doping-regimes-2021

Disciplinary Sanctions - July to September 2019

Between July and September seven individuals were subject to disciplinary sanctions for breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program; Youssef Hossam, Issam Taweel, Svetlana Teryaeva, Juan Carlos Saez, Diego Matos, Irina Khromacheva, Edvin Gustafsson:

In addition, a CAS ruling of 7 August confirmed the lifetime bans imposed on Ukrainian brothers Gleb and Vadim Alekseenko. The $250,000 fines originally imposed by an independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer were reduced on appeal to $25,000 in both cases.

Please note that these sanctions have previously been announced by the TIU and are included here as a retrospective record.

Published 14 October 2019 11:00

TIU Briefing Note - July to September 2019