Latest news with #matchfixing
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Bernard Tomic produces come from behind heroics to win first ATP match since 2021
Aussie tennis bad boy Bernard Tomic has ended his four-year wait for an ATP Tour victory with a resilient comeback win over fellow Australian Rinky Hijikata in Spain overnight. Despite not qualifying for Wimbledon, the 32-year-old headed straight for the Mallorca Championships in hopes of regaining his old form. Victory looked bleak for Tomic as he stared down the barrel of defeat down 3-5 in the second set on the grass courts. But with one game away from loss the resurgent veteran battled back to take the match 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. The win was his first top level victory on the main tour in over four years, since the 2021 Australian Open (by retirement), and first by winning match point since mid-2019. In a strong performance, Tomic finished with nine aces, converting four from five break points and for one run in the match won 12 consecutive points. The win pushes him from world No. 243 to the edge of the top 200 in a resurgent push to revive his career. The shift has been a change from the troubled times in the limelight that has made up much of Tomic's career on tour. He last won an ATP tournament in 2018 when he claimed the Chengdu Open in China before his decline. The Aussie was once of the country's brightest prospects but his career was derailed by a party lifestyle, various bust-ups with officials, run-ins with spectators and allegations of tanking games. Despite no charges being laid in the end, the most serious came in 2022 with investigations into alleged match fixing. But all that seems well behind Tomic as the star looks for a personal and professional revival three years later. Having just missed qualifying for the grass court tournament in London, Tomic found form in Spain early after pulling off upset wins over World No. 93 Jesper De Jong and No. 77 Aleksandar Kovacevic just to make the main draw. Before then the Gold Coaster had not beaten a rival inside the top 100 for more than two years. His defeat now of Hijikata — who will be part of the main draw at Wimbledon — in the Round of 32 puts him in the fold to make a push for the final grand slam of the year, the US Open in August. Tomic is now the last Aussie in the tournament, while James Duckworth has also advanced to the Round of 16 in the Eastbourne Open after defeating Aleksandar Vukic 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1. Tomic will next play No. 7 seed on home turf, Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut early tomorrow morning.
The Sun
4 days ago
- Sport
- The Sun
Snooker star who was banned along with world champion Zhao Xintong makes huge statement after return to sport
SNOOKER star Chang Bingyu has made a statement return to the baize after seeing out his suspension alongside World Snooker champion Zhao Xingtong. Both Zhao and Chang were given lengthy bans for their roles in a match-fixing scandal that rocked the world of snooker. 2 Zhao was handed a 20-month ban for his part in the scandal, which saw 10 Chinese players punished for their involvement. But the 28-year-old, who was found to have not had any direct role in fixing the outcome of a match, bounced back from his ban in the most dramatic way possible by winning the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible earlier this year. Now his compatriot, Chang, has racked up a statement win on his return to action after he was given a two-year suspension for his role in the scandal. Chang, 22, admitted to deliberately losing to Jamie Jones at the 2022 British Open, claiming he "reluctantly" agreed to fix the match after a call from Liang Wenbo detailing an alleged large bet on Jones to win. Chang was originally slapped with a three-year ban, but saw that suspension reduced to two years after he admitted to his wrongdoing. Now the highly-thought of prospect potter has returned to action with a statement win, beating top player Daniel Wells 5-4 in a Wuhan Open qualifier. Chang fought back from 4-1 down to beat Wells thanks to breaks of 84, 60 and 70 in Leicester. The youngster will now face India's Kreishh Gurbaxani on Thursday in his battle to qualify for the competition that takes place in August. It's not the first statement made by Chang since the end of his ban either. The former world number 62 returned to action in December at the Asia-Pacific Snooker Championship, winning the tournament without showing any signs of his time away from the table. List of all-time Snooker World Champions BELOW is a list of snooker World Champions by year. The record is for the modern era, widely considered as dating from the 1968-69 season, when the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) took control of the sport. The first World Championships ran from 1927 - with a break from 1941-45 because of World War II and 1958-63 because of a dispute in the sport. Joe Davis (15), Fred Davis and John Pulman (both 8) were the most successful players during that period. Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan share the record for the most titles in the modern era, with seven each. 1969 - John Spencer 1970 - Ray Reardon 1971 - John Spencer 1972 - Alex Higgins 1973 - Ray Reardon (2) 1974 - Ray Reardon (3) 1975 - Ray Reardon (4) 1976 - Ray Reardon (5) 1977 - John Spencer (2) 1978 - Ray Reardon (6) 1979 - Terry Griffiths 1980 - Cliff Thorburn 1981 - Steve Davis 1982 - Alex Higgins (2) 1983 - Steve Davis (2) 1984 - Steve Davis (3) 1985 - Dennis Taylor 1986 - Joe Johnson 1987 - Steve Davis (4) 1988 - Steve Davis (5) 1989 - Steve Davis (6) 1990 - Stephen Hendry 1991 - John Parrott 1992 - Stephen Hendry (2) 1993 - Stephen Hendry (3) 1994 - Stephen Hendry (4) 1995 - Stephen Hendry (5) 1996 - Stephen Hendry (6) 1997 - Ken Doherty 1998 - John Higgins 1999 - Stephen Hendry (7) 2000 - Mark Williams 2001 - Ronnie O'Sullivan 2002 - Peter Ebdon 2003 - Mark Williams (2) 2004 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (2) 2005 - Shaun Murphy 2006 - Graeme Dott 2007 - John Higgins (2) 2008 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (3) 2009 - John Higgins (3) 2010 - Neil Robertson 2011 - John Higgins (4) 2012 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (4) 2013 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (5) 2014 - Mark Selby 2015 - Stuart Bingham 2016 - Mark Selby (2) 2017 - Mark Selby (3) 2018 - Mark Williams (3) 2019 - Judd Trump 2020 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (6) 2021 - Mark Selby (4) 2022 - Ronnie O'Sullivan (7) 2023 - Luca Brecel 2024 - Kyren Wilson Most World Titles (modern era) 7 - Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 - Ray Reardon, Steve Davis 4 - John Higgins, Mark Selby 3 - John Spencer, Mark Williams 2 - Alex Higgins
ABC News
11-06-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Soccer players call for Football Australia to ban yellow-card bets, tackle match fixing
The professional soccer players' association has called for gambling on yellow cards to be banned in the wake of the A-League's second match fixing scandal in 12 months. In a rare public criticism of Football Australia, Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) has also blasted the governing body's integrity unit, demanding that it drastically scale-up its player education program. The association's CEO Beau Busch said he decided to make the organisation's demands public after a player with Melbourne-based A-League team Western United was last week charged with match-fixing offences involving games played in April and May. The latest scandal comes a year after three Macarthur FC players were charged with match-fixing offences in May last year. If convicted, the players allegedly involved in both matters face potential prison time. "We need to learn from this now. We need to get far better," Mr Busch said. "If it's a matter of public pressure being applied to deliver better outcomes for the game, we're comfortable doing that." ABC Investigations revealed last week that Victoria's gambling regulator has launched a probe into Football Australia's ability to protect its players from match fixing, and the range of betting markets it allows on soccer. Football Australia is currently renegotiating its contracts with bookmakers that set out the range of games and elements of play on which gambling companies can offer bets. Mr Busch called on Football Australia to ban gambling on yellow cards in the wake of the Macarthur FC and Western United matters. In both cases, players are alleged to have intentionally received yellow cards in acts of apparent spot-fixing. Mr Busch said allowing such bets was "potentially leaving sport open to more manipulation". "We need to look at how damaging this has been to the sport and can we have confidence that we can design a new system that will negate those risks as well?" He said gambling should only be allowed on yellow cards again if Football Australia drastically improved its integrity training. In 2023, Four Corners revealed that Football Australia gets a cut from bets placed on all levels of soccer in Australia, from international Socceroos and Matildas games to amateur suburban matches. The governing body does not publicly disclose exactly how much revenue it earns from the payments from gambling companies, which are known as product fees. But its latest annual report showed it received $15.1 million in "other" revenue during 2024, which included product fees from gambling companies, appearance fees, fines against players and payments from the A-League operator, Australian Professional Leagues. Football Australia's acting CEO, Heather Garriock, has been travelling in Saudi Arabia for the Socceroos latest World Cup qualifier, so was unavailable for an interview. Football Australia did not respond to questions about its negotiations with gambling companies. Mr Busch called for a bigger proportion of Football Australia's gambling revenue to be invested in integrity education for players. "You should not get the benefit of this gambling money that comes into the sport without the burden of making sure our people are safe," he said. Mr Busch said the current integrity training program — which is delivered as an annual, online video seminar — did not adequately teach players about the consequences of match fixing. Mr Busch said his association had repeatedly asked the governing body to resume in-person integrity training — which was moved online during the COVID-19 pandemic — since the Macarthur FC players were charged a year ago. "We've tried to work collaboratively with Football Australia to try to improve that, but I don't think there has been a significant improvement despite the damage that has occurred to the sport," he said. "We want to see that swiftly remedied." No system is 100 per cent secure, but the Signal app can be used to protect your identity by using end-to-end encryption. Please read the terms and conditions of the app to work out if it is the best method of communication for you. Mr Busch said when he played in the A-League in the late-2000s, teams were forced to undergo an annual intensive training program run by Football Australia's integrity unit that drilled into them the risks of match fixing. "There was a significant workshop that we did in the preseason," he said. "It was an in-person workshop." He said the current online seminar is only delivered in English, and in-person training should cater to players recruited from overseas. "If you look at the players that are playing in our competition, we have a range of languages, from Spanish and Japanese, to French, Italian and German," he said. "We need to make sure that every single player has not only sat and watched the webinar but actually can clearly understand their obligations." After the ABC put the players association's concerns to Football Australia, it responded by saying it would resume face-to-face integrity training before the start of the next A-League season. "Football Australia and several other bodies, including Sport Integrity Australia (SIA), Professional Footballers Australia, FIFA, and the Asian Football Confederation, contribute to the delivery of integrity education," it said in a statement. "Football Australia is continually evolving the delivery of its integrity education in conjunction with other partners. "Football Australia continues to engage with the PFA to further strengthen the delivery and content of integrity education." Melbourne University sports integrity expert Jack Anderson said player education was crucial in combating match fixing in soccer. "Proper education, engaging with the players face-to-face and regularly circling back to them during the season, is hugely important," he said. "When you think about the poor publicity that a sport attracts when things go wrong, any investment in education will pay huge dividends."
National Post
10-06-2025
- Sport
- National Post
Corruption unit flies in to probe Cricket Canada's involvement in betting scam
A high-powered International Cricket Council anti-corruption team is jetting into Toronto this week. No, they are not here to check out what the country's largest dynamic metropolis has to offer or a trip to see the awe-inspiring beauty of Niagara Falls. Article content They may still take in all the sites during their spare time but they are here on a far more serious and challenging visit. They are here to investigate a number of incidents that have perked the ears of the world's governing body. Article content Article content The ICC has been forced to jump into action after receiving a recorded tape from a Cricket Canada member about illegal betting, match-and-spot-fixing involving the national team in the last few weeks. Immediately after the member admitted to forwarding the tape to the ICC in England, he was fired for not sharing the tape first with Cricket Canada. Article content This damning recording that was exclusively shared to Postmedia lasts 58 minutes and 47 seconds is conducted in Punjabi and was deciphered to me by a translator. The ICC takes these allegations very seriously as it doesn't want its lily-white image of the sport to be tarnished anymore. Article content Of course, the game received a black eye on April 7, 2000 when Indian police charged the late South Africa skipper Hansie Cronje of match fixing and that sparked a world-wide scandal. In the same year Pakistanis Salim Malik and Ata-u-Rehman were banned for life and six others were fined. The game was later rocked when the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation fingered India's national captain Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma who both played in Toronto in the Sahara Cup tournament were banned for life. Article content Article content Since then, ICC has stepped up the fight but the proliferation of franchise cricket has made the job of stopping corruption even harder. Article content The recording points fingers at how the interim national coach Khurum Rashid Chohan was instructed by three board members on the composition of the team. It appears the bookmakers based in either Pakistan or India relayed classified information to these board members who were allegedly involved in placing bets. Article content In one instance the coach strongly objected to one bowler being dropped as the 'wicket had a green top.' And he paid the price for it. On the squad's return from the trip to the U.S. to play World Cup qualifiers Chohan was fired. He has been replaced by the national team's general manager Ingleton Liburd. Liburd was a former Canadian international all-rounder who has been with the organization for several years. When contacted on Monday, Chohan told me that he was relieved of his duties and that 'Ingleton will coach the team in next week's matches. Call me back in 15 minutes and I will talk to you.' I called him back twice and the calls went unanswered.
Daily Mail
06-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Football Australia to face integrity investigation after two match-fixing scandals in the space of 12 months
Football Australia is under official scrutiny following a second A-League match-fixing scandal in just 12 months. Victoria's gambling regulator has announced it will conduct a formal 'suitability review' of Football Australia's integrity framework. The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) will lead the investigation during the 2025–26 financial year. This review comes after Western United midfielder Riku Danzaki was charged with 10 offences related to match-fixing. Police allege Danzaki deliberately received yellow cards in A-League matches across April and May this year. Victoria Police's Sporting Integrity Intelligence Unit charged two men linked to the scandal. The pair were bailed to appear at Melbourne Magistrates' Court on July 31. One of the men is a 24-year-old from West Melbourne, and the other is a 27-year-old from Kingsville. Both men have been bailed to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on July 31. Western United confirmed a player had been charged, stating, 'We take this matter seriously.' The club said it is cooperating fully with authorities but declined to comment further. Football Australia responded by issuing no-fault interim suspensions to both charged individuals. 'The suspensions will remain in place until further notice,' Football Australia said in a statement. The Australian Professional Leagues also confirmed a player had been charged. A spokesperson said, 'The integrity of our sport is something that has to be protected without compromise.' This marks the second time in a year that yellow card betting allegations have rocked the A-League. In May 2024, Macarthur FC players Ulises Davila, Kearyn Bacchus and Clayton Lewis were charged by NSW Police. Those charges also involved the alleged manipulation of yellow card outcomes for betting purposes. The VGCCC labelled the latest allegations 'concerning' and signalled deeper examination of Football Australia's controls. 'This will include looking at the activities FA allows betting on, such as yellow cards,' a VGCCC spokesperson said. Football Australia confirmed it had been notified of the impending review in April. 'Football Australia welcomes the opportunity to continue to refine our vigilance against integrity threats,' it stated. It said integrity challenges affect all sports globally and require unified efforts from regulators and agencies. 'The job on integrity is never complete as offenders are becoming more and more sophisticated,' it added. Under Victorian law, Football Australia is a designated sports controlling body. This status gives it the power to negotiate betting markets and oversee soccer's integrity. It also allows Football Australia to receive a portion of gambling revenue, including bets on yellow cards. In 2023, Four Corners revealed that Football Australia permitted bets on all tiers of football. This includes international fixtures, national leagues, and even amateur suburban matches. In contrast, leagues like the AFL and NRL restrict gambling to their top two professional levels. Melbourne University's Professor Jack Anderson said the review would likely question the scope of permitted bets. 'Are some of these bets presenting such a risk that they should be struck off?' he asked. Anderson said yellow card manipulation is a growing problem worldwide. 'It's very discrete. A player can generate a yellow card almost to the minute,' he said. The issue is not limited to Australia, with global football also grappling with similar cases. Brazilian midfielder Lucas Paqueta, who plays for West Ham United, is currently under investigation. The UK Football Association charged Paqueta over alleged yellow card spot-fixing in the Premier League. If found guilty, he could face a lifetime ban from football. Paqueta has denied all allegations and continues to defend his innocence.
