Venezuelan chair umpire suspended for failing to report corrupt approaches

Bengaluru, June 20: Venezuelan chair umpire Armando Alfonso Belardi Gonzalez has been suspended for two-and-a-half years and fined $5,000 after failing to report corrupt approaches, the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) said.

But the 40-year-old, who officiated at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games and the US Open Grand Slam tournaments in 2017 and 2018, needs to pay only $1,000 as of now.

The remaining $4,000 of the fine will be suspended as long as Gonzalez commits no further breaches of the TACP, the anti-corruption body added.

The TIU said Gonzalez, who has been a bronze badge chair umpire since 2013, was approached twice in 2018 to become involved in a corrupt scheme to manipulate match scores entered into a chair umpire's digital device.

"As a result of the sanction imposed, and with effect from 18 June 2020, he is prohibited from officiating in or attending any tennis event authorised or sanctioned by the governing bodies of tennis for the duration of the ban," the TIU said in a statement.

Tennis authorities suspend Venezuelan referee Armando Belardi for two years and six months for not reporting approaches to him to alter match scores. https://t.co/t6xaCKAuoA

— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) June 20, 2020

He did not do what he was asked to do, the TIU said, but did not disclose that he was asked to, which is required by the sport's anti-corruption rules, thereby alleging him of failing to co-operate in the investigation.

Gonzalez is not the first chair umpire to be suspended failing to report corrupt approaches.

It may be recalled that last year, Russian tennis official Svetlana Teryaeva was handed a six-month suspension and a $1,000 fine for a similar offence.

(With inputs from Agencies)