Egypt’s Youssef Hossam has been banned from professional tennis for life following his conviction on multiple match-fixing and associated corruption charges.
The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) said on Monday that an independent anti-corruption hearing officer imposed the lifetime sanction following a disciplinary hearing held in London from March 9 to 11.
A TIU investigation found that the Hossam had committed 21 breaches of anti-corruption rules between 2015 and 2019 and conspired with others to carry out a campaign of betting-related corruption at the lower levels of professional tennis.
It involved eight cases of match-fixing, six cases of facilitating gambling, two cases of soliciting other players not to use best efforts, three failures to report corrupt approaches and two failures to co-operate with a TIU investigation.
“As a result of his conviction, Hossam is now permanently excluded from competing in or attending any sanctioned tennis event organised or recognised by the governing bodies of the sport,” TIU said in a media release.
“He has been provisionally suspended from all professional tennis since May 2019, as a result of concerns about his alleged involvement in corruption,” it added.
The 21-year old is currently ranked 820 in ATP singles and reached a career-high of 291 in December 2017.-IANS News
