A new match-fixing scandal shakes Chilean tennis: Michel Vernier suspended seven years and five months

In recent years, the scourge of betting on tennis has increasingly taken over the circuit, mainly among challenger players and ITF tournaments. Chile has not been spared by these situations and has recently seen some of its personalities suspended for this type of scandal. Today, it’s the turn of Michel Vernier, a 29-year-old regular player in lower category tournaments.

“The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) confirmed today that Chilean tennis player Michel Vernier Quinteros has been suspended from the sport for seven years and five months, after he admitted match-fixing offences” reports the agency.

“The matter has been dealt with under the ‘Proposed Disposition’ of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP) 2022.”This allows the ITIA to impose a sanction on the player in the event of an admission of guilt, without the need for a hearing. In addition to the ban, the player was fined $15,000 and suspended $7,500.” , details. And he adds: “Therefore, the player is prohibited from participating in or attending any sanctioned tennis event organized by the governing bodies of the sport with a date prior to the start of his provisional suspension on March 31, 2022, until August 30, 2029″.

The tennis player admitted receiving money for rigging match results in 2018, and failing to report corrupt approaches to the ITIA.

The current 730 in the rankings was tracked some time ago by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) for alleged match fixing. The player has not played an official match since the end of March, when he lost to Mexican Juan Alejandro Hernández in the first round of the M25 in Medellín. Of course, a few months ago he played a RUN tournament in Curicó, where he won the crown after beating Benjamín Torres.

Vernier had won his first professional title in November last year after winning the title in the U15 in Cundinamarca, Colombia, where he beat the young Chilean tennis player Daniel Núñez.

In 2020, he made the news after being removed from the post because Davis Cup captain Nicolás Massú did not name him for the series against Sweden. “It is assumed that by ranking, (the) Tennis Federation should call me to be part of the Davis Cup team. For some unknown reason, they didn’t. I hope they will have an explanation for the decision they made, being an act that does not correspond, going so far as to bring the principle of respect to the nomination by classification”, he wrote this time on his social networks.

The case of the national tennis player is not the only one, since in 2019 Mauricio Álvarez has been banned for life for rigging meetings and for related corruption offences, while that same year Juan Carlos Sáez was suspended for eight years for situations related to the same. While Cristóbal Saavedra received two and a half years for not having collaborated in an investigation in this regard. And, more recently, former Chilean coach Sebastián Rivera.

A few months ago, the ITIA announced severe sanctions against six Spanish tennis players (Marc Fornell, Jorge Marse, Carlos Ortega, Jaime Ortega, Marcos Tarralbo and Pedro Bernabé Franco , who received suspensions ranging from seven to 22 years. “While we are not happy to see six people criminally convicted and banned, the message is clear: match fixing can lead to a prison sentence and can end your tennis career. It also serves as a warning that organized crime is targeting sport, and governments and law enforcement, as well as anti-corruption agencies in sport, must take this threat seriously,” said Jennie Price. , president of the agency.