The ugly face of match fixing has resurfaced once again as reports have come out from Spain that a large number of arrests have been made over the past few days. (Arrests Made As Match Fixing Scandal Hits Spain)
As many as 34 people could be involved in this mass arrest across both Spain and Portugal. Apparently as many as six tennis players have been arrested according to the reports emanating from Spain.
The accused players have been charged with deliberately affecting the results of at least 17 games across all competitions. (Arrests Made As Match Fixing Scandal Hits Spain)
Authorities have claimed that the money involved in this racket was roughly close to 500,000 Euros. This makes it one of the most shocking scandals in recent times.
“These aren’t well-known players,” said a policemen. He also said that these people were somewhere between the 800 and 1200 in the ATP World rankings.
“Sometimes they promised €500 and in the end only paid €50. The players were above all the victims,” said another official at the scene.
The players were never identified but they clearly did not show any remorse for their actions. (Arrests Made As Match Fixing Scandal Hits Spain)
These arrests come after there were some rumors back in January that there might be some matches that were being unnaturally fixed. It was said that match fixing was present at the top levels of world tennis.
But those allegations died down quickly as no concrete evidence was ever found in support of these claims. Although there was not any evidence in this matter, it did bring to fore the very threat of match fixing and how it could be a major issue for the game.
And now these arrests that have been made will only exemplify the fact that this is a real threat to us and to this beautiful game.
