ITIA announces a lifetime ban for Sebastián Rivera

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), the body tasked with ensuring the integrity of the sport, announced a new sanction after uncovering a record number of breaches. Last week, the integrity watchdog revealed it banned Sebastián Rivera from the sport. As a result, Rivera, a former Chilean player and a coach was banned from the sport for life.

According to a statement released by the ITIA, the lifetime ban comes after it uncovered a total of 64 match-fixing offenses against Rivera. This was the highest number of offenses ever uncovered so far by the Agency or the governing body that preceded it, the Tennis Integrity Unit. The lifetime ban means that Rivera will no longer be allowed to participate as a player in any events that are sanctioned or governed by the ITIA. He is also forbidden permanently from coaching or attending any such events, authorized or sanctioned by the Agency.

Besides the lifetime ban, Rivera was handed a $250,000 fine from the ITIA. The Agency revealed that Rivera's case was ruled by Jane Mulcahy QC, ITIA's Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer. The ITIA said that it uncovered breaches that fall under four different categories from the Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme (TACP). The tennis integrity watchdog said Rivera breached Section D.1.b, Section D.1.d, Section D.1.f and Section D.1.g of the 2017 and 2018 TACP.

Section D.1.b of the 2017 and 2018 TACP forbids individuals from "directly or indirectly, solicit or facilitate any other person to wager on the outcome or any other aspect of any Event or any other tennis competition," while Section D.1.d forbids individuals from influencing any outcome or any aspect of any event.

On the other hand, Section D.1.f forbids covered persons, referred to as the individuals involved in the sport such as coaches, players or umpires, from accepting any money or benefitting in any way with the intention of impacting the results of a player in any event.

Last but not least, the ITIA pointed out that Rivera breached Section D.1.g which states: "No Covered Person shall, directly or indirectly, offer or provide any money, benefit or Consideration to any other Covered Person with the intention of negatively influencing a Player's best efforts in any Event."

It was a busy summer for ITIA considering it handed out provisional suspensions as well as bans. Late last month, the integrity watchdog banned Lorenzo Chiurazzi, an Italian umpire, from the sport for seven years and six months.

Before that, the ITIA provisionally suspended 22-year-old Chilean tennis player Felipe Hernandez. At the time of the announcement, the watchdog said that the suspension was handed due to breaches of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP).

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