Net closing as ping-pong gamers suspended over match-fixing claims
Four table tennis players, including three Brits, have been banned over allegations of match-fixing and unusual betting activity after an investigation was launched
The net is closing in on the game of ping pong after four players were banned over match-fixing claims.
The once genteel sport has been rocked after members of Table Tennis England were suspended over allegations of match-fixing and unusual betting activity.
Brits Luke Savill, Darius Knight, Joseph Langham-Ferreira and Nigerian player Kazeem Adeleke have been barred from playing following a “complex international investigation”.
The Gambling Commission opened an investigation after receiving reports of “unusual and suspicious betting activity from licensed operators on matches held in Ukraine in 2020” linked to British betting accounts. The proceedings were linked to a case in Australia involving the Australian player Adam Green, who admitted placing more than 1,100 bets on fixed matches in Ukraine.
It was alleged Green passed information about the fixed games to Savill, said by Table Tennis England to have been “a party to fixing table tennis matches played in Ukraine in 2020” as well as other matches from 2018, but failed to disclose his knowledge.
Savill, who represented England at junior level, has been banned from the sport for a minimum of six years. Knight has been sanctioned for six years, Adeleke for five years and Langham-Ferreira for three years.
Players under sanction may not take part in any table tennis activity organised by Table Tennis England, sit on any club committee, coach at any level or umpire or spectate at any event.
Knight and Langham-Ferreira were accused of being a party to match-fixing in Ukraine, being a party to betting on matches between 2018 and 2020, failing to disclose knowledge of betting on fixed matches and failing to fully co-operate with the inquiry. Adeleke was sanctioned for betting on matches between 2018 and 2020.
Knight was a reserve Team GB athlete at the 2012 Olympics, and Langham-Ferreira and Adeleke had competed at high levels.
Andrew Rhodes, chief executive of the Gambling Commission, said: “This case highlights the importance of global collaboration in protecting the integrity of sport.
“Over the past five years, stakeholders across multiple jurisdictions have worked together to investigate and address concerns around match-fixing. The message is clear, integrity in sport matters, and efforts to uphold it will continue.”
It is the latest sport to face scrutiny over claims of wrongdoing. The game of chess was hit by scandal in 2023 after a player was accused of cheating by using vibrating anal beads.
And in 2022 the Irish dancing world was hit by allegations of competition fixing and cheating in return for sexual favours.
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