Austrian Daniel Koellerer has had his life ban from tennis upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to become the first tennis player to receive such a punishment for attempted match-fixing.
CAS dismissed the 28-year-old’s appeal to have the sanction overturned after the Anti Corruption Hearing Officer (AHO) found him guilty last May of attempted match-fixing.
Koellerer, who reached a career-high ranking of 55 in October 2009, has been banned permanently from participating in any event organised or sanctioned by any of the four tennis governing bodies ATP, WTA, ITF and Grand Slam Committee.
“On the basis of the evidence submitted by the parties to the CAS, the panel of arbitrators was satisfied the player attempted to engage in match-fixing,” a statement read.
CAS did, though, set aside the $100,000 (Dh367,316) fine which had been imposed on the player.
“The player did not benefit financially from any of the charges for which he has been found liable,” according to the panel of three arbitrators.
The tennis governing bodies ruled in January last year that Koellerer had “made invitations to other players to fix matches on five occasions” between October 2009 and July 2010. “The panel ruled that the tennis governing bodies had met their burden of proof.”
He challenged his expulsion at a two-day CAS hearing held last November.
The court upheld his ban, “acknowledging that the sanction was sufficiently high enough to reflect the seriousness of the corruption offences.”
This sentence caps a career of a player who had several controversial incidents on court. Koellerer was accused of racism by Brazilian tennis player Júlio Silva, who filed charges against him after a match on the ATP Challenger Tour at Reggio Emilia, in Italy, on June 2010.
Silva accused Koellerer of calling him “monkey” and telling him to “go back to the jungle”, imitating monkey movements.
Koellerer was also involved in an incident with his countryman Stefan Koubek, who was disqualified from an Austrian league match after grabbing Daniel Koellerer by the throat during a changeover.
Koubek said Koellerer insulted him during the match. “I’m man enough not to let myself be insulted, especially not by him,” Koubek said at the time.
