VIENNA (AP)—Austria’s Daniel Koellerer, who was banned for life last week for attempting to fix matches, is fighting his suspension from the national tennis scene.
Following the conviction by an international anti-corruption unit last Tuesday, the Austrian tennis federation applied the ban to all national tournaments and competitions.
However, Koellerer’s manager Manfred Nareyka said Monday the national federation was not entitled to do so as the verdict by the international Tennis Integrity Unit has not taken full effect. Koellerer can still appeal that verdict until June 20.
“The case has not been closed yet so (the federation’s decision) is just arbitrariness,” Nareyka told the Austria Press Agency. “There is no legal conviction at the moment.”
The former 55th-ranked Koellerer is hoping to play in Austria’s national team competition, which started last weekend and continues Tuesday.
“It’s also about money and, for Daniel, every match in the Bundesliga counts,” said Nareyka, who added it was still unclear whether Koellerer could afford a costly appeal against the TIU verdict.
The national federation said it had no other option than to follow the international verdict. The TIU has been set up on behalf of the International Tennis Federation and the ATP and the WTA Tours.
“The Austrian tennis federation is a member of the ITF and has to carry out decisions by the TIU,” spokeswoman Constanze Emesz said. “Furthermore, the image of Austrian tennis has been badly hurt by this decision and the participation of such a player—even when just a suspect—would do more harm to Austrian tennis than it would to the individual player.”
The 27-year-old Koellerer became the first tennis player to be banned for life for attempting to fix matches. He was found guilty of three violations of the sport’s anti-corruption rules, including “contriving or attempting to contrive the outcome of an event.”
The violations occurred between October 2009 and July 2010. He was also fined $100,000.
In August 2010, Koellerer and Nareyka were placed on two years’ probation after the player’s personal website listed odds for matches and had links to sites for placing bets. At the time, Koellerer and Nareyka admitted breaking rules about “facilitating betting.”