Chinese tennis player temporarily banned over Wimbledon 'coercion'

Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai has been banned for six months and was fined $10,000 for breaking tennis anti-corruption rules before Wimbledon 2017.

Former doubles world number one Peng tried to change her women's doubles partner after the sign-in deadline, the BBC reported.

The Tennis Integrity Unit said on Wednesday that she "used coercion and offered the possibility of financial reward".

That was a breach of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP), the TIU said.

The TACP states that: "No covered person shall, directly or indirectly, contrive or attempt to contrive the outcome or any other aspect of any event."

In a statement, the TIU said: "Peng Shuai was found to have used coercion and offered the possibility of financial reward in return for her main draw partner agreeing to withdraw from the ladies' doubles event at Wimbledon 2017."

No further details have been released about the incident.

Peng ended up not playing in the women's double tournament at that year's Wimbledon, although she did play in the singles, losing to Simona Halep in the third round.

The TIU has said Peng, 32, will be free to play again on November 8, with half of her punishment suspended on condition that no further breaches are committed.

Her former coach, Bertrand Perret, has also been suspended for three months after he was found to have also breached the code.

Peng is ranked 20th in the world in doubles and 80th in singles. She was the number one ranked doubles player in February 2014.

She has won two WTA singles titles in her career - as well as two Grand Slam women's doubles trophies, at Wimbledon in 2013 and Roland Garros in 2014, both alongside Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei.

--IANS

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