The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on Friday that French tennis players Mick Lescure and Jules Okala had received lifetime bans from the sport following investigations into many instances of match-fixing since 2014.
Lifetime Bans for Match-Fixing Given to Two French Tennis Players
Lescure, 29, who peaked at world number 487, was held responsible for eight allegations of match-fixing and fined $40,000 as well. Okala, 25, who had a top ranking of 338, was found accountable for seven offences and sentenced to a $15,000 punishment.
The sanctions mean that both players are permanently barred from participating in or attending any tennis event sanctioned by the governing bodies of tennis, according to a statement from the ITIA. “The cases were decided on by independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer Charles Hollander KC,” the statement read.
Both players have reportedly been involved in larger law enforcement investigations in France and Belgium, according to the independent ITIA, which was founded by tennis’ international governing organisations to oversee integrity issues.
After testing positive for banned substances at three competitions in September and October, Polish athlete Kamil Majchrzak received a provisional suspension for doping.
He was one of the most recent athletes to be implicated in a doping controversy, including Simona Halep and Fernando Verdasco. Halep, a former World No. 1, was given a provisional ban after testing positive for the drug Roxadustat, while Verdasco received a two-month provisional ban for failing to provide medical documents.
In a brief statement posted to Twitter, Majchrzak said that the allegations against him were the “greatest shock” to him and that he would “fight to establish his innocence” before returning to the sport he loves.
In 2019, Kamil Majchrzak reached the third round of the US Open, which was his highest Grand Slam result to date. He reached a career-high rating of No. 75 in February of this year, and he finished the season at No. 77.