The Tennis Integrity Unit anti-corruption organization has announced that it has instituted significant bans and fines against tennis-playing brothers Karen and Yuri Khachatryan after the pair were adjudged to have committed a number of match-fixing offences.

A joint initiative of the Association of Tennis Professionals (STP), the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), the International Tennis Federation and the sport’s four Grand Slam tournaments, the body used an official Wednesday press release to declare that it is ‘committed to a zero tolerance approach to corruption in tennis’ and decided to sanction the Bulgarian duo following the conclusion of an investigation.

Considerable consequences:

The Tennis Integrity Unit stated that 26-year-old Karen Khachatryan has been hit with a lifetime ban from professional tennis as well as a $250,000 fine after its inquiry found evidence that the left-handed player had been involved in five instances of match-fixing between 2017 and 2019. The organization detailed that the professional has been suspended since June of last year and was moreover found to have solicited other competitors on at least nine occasions ‘not to us their best efforts’ during a contest.

Read a statement from the Tennis Integrity Unit…

“As a result of his conviction, Mr Khachatryan is now permanently excluded from competing in or attending any sanctioned tennis event organized or recognized by the governing bodies of the sport.”

Fraternal follies:

Regarding 20-year-old Yuri Khachatryan and the Tennis Integrity Unit explained that the player has been sanctioned to the tune of $50,000 and is to furthermore be required to serve a ten-year ban. The body stated that the young competitor was found to have made ‘corrupt approaches to a fellow professional player’ in addition to lodging sports wagers on games while facilitating others to do the same.

The statement from the Tennis Integrity Unit read…

“As a result of his conviction he is now excluded from competing in or attending any sanctioned tennis event organized or recognized by the governing bodies of the sport for a period of ten years. He had also been provisionally suspended from all professional tennis since June of 2019 as a result of the concerns about his alleged involvement in corruption.”