The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) has issued a six-month suspended sentence to Argentina’s Federico Coria for breaching the sport’s anti-corruption rules.
26-year-old Coria has been found guilty of failing to report corrupt approaches made towards him in 2015. In July that year he was offered money to lose a set at an ITF futures tournament in Sassuolo, Italy. Then in August he was offered another financial incentive to lose a set amount of matches throughout the year. An independent investigation found that Coria did not accept either of those approaches, but he failed to report them.
Coria has also been found guilty of what the ITU calls a ‘technical’ breach in cooperation with the authorities. When he handed over his phone, it was rest back to factory settings. Although it was accepted that it wasn’t done for an improper purpose.
In total the Argentina has been slammed with a $10,000 fine and an eight-month ban for anti-corruption offences. Although half of the fine and six months of the ban has been suspended as long as he commits no more offences.
Coria, who is the brother of former world No.3 Guillermo Coria, has been ranked as high as 223rd in the world back in 2017. During his career, he has won eight titles on the Futures tour. Earlier this year he won his first ATP main draw match at the Lyon Open, defeating compatriot Nicolas Kicker in the first round. Kicker is also currently suspended from the tour for match-fixing offences. He is waiting to hear what punishment he will receive from the TIU.
Providing he commits no further violations, Coria is eligible to return to the tour on August 12th.
List of rules Coria has been found guilty of breaking
Section D.2.a.i: “In the event any Player is approached by any person who offers or provides any type of money, benefit or Consideration to a Player to (i) influence the outcome or any aspect of any Event, or (ii) provide Inside Information, it shall be the Player’s obligation to report such incident to the TIU as soon as possible.”
Section D.2.c: “For the avoidance of doubt, (i) a failure of the Reporting Obligation by any Covered Person… shall constitute a Corruption Offense for the purposes of the Program.”
Section F.2.b: “All Covered Persons must cooperate fully with investigations conducted by the TIU including giving evidence at hearings, if requested. No Covered Person shall tamper with or destroy any evidence or other information related to any Corruption Offense.”
