A national-level tennis umpire has been banned for life by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) after being found guilty of committing up to 21 breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP). Pavel Atanasov will no longer officiate matches following the lifetime sanction.
Cases of match-fixing have been widespread in professional tennis, with players facing consequences. One syndicate led to the arrest of Grigor Sargsyan, an Armenian immigrant based in Belgium, who lured players into his empire resulting in sanctions for some involved.
Atanasov, a Bulgarian umpire, received a $10,000 fine in addition to his ban. The violations occurred from 2019 to 2023 and included manipulating scoring data, encouraging betting, conspiring to commit corruption, and failing to report corruption approaches. He will no longer be permitted to officiate or attend ITF tournaments in Bulgaria authorized by the ITIA members.
