LONDON — Chinese tennis player Pang Renlong has been banned for 12 years and fined $110,000 for a series of match-fixing involving 22 matches over a five-month period.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency said Friday that Pang, 25, admitted to fixing five of his own matches in lower-level events and making “corrupt approaches” to players in 11 other matches, six of which were also fixed.
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The match-fixing occurred from May to September 2024, the ITIA said. During this period, Pang competed in various ITF tournaments in Turkey, Hong Kong and mainland China and lost in qualifying for an ATP Challenger event, the Jinan Open in China.
The ITIA has not cataloged match-fixing linked to Pang, whose career ranking was 1,316th last year. His suspension is expected to last until 2036, including time already spent on provisional suspension. Of his $110,000 fine, $70,000 was suspended.
He is prohibited from playing, training or attending any event organized by the main tennis authorities or national federations.
Last week, the ITIA announced that French player Quentin Folliot was suspended 20 years in prison for match-fixing and recruiting other players “on behalf of a match-fixing syndicate”. He was the sixth player banned due to allegations of involvement in the group.
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AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
