Wimbledon pledges to crack down on Russian mafia's match-fixing betting scams

Wimbledon fortnight begins today with a pledge to fight back against the threat of match-fixing by the Russian mafia.

Crime syndicates are thought to have offered tens of thousands of pounds to players in an attempt to get them to throw matches, earning the gangsters millions from unsuspecting bookmakers.

But tennis governing bodies around the world have confirmed that they are to adopt a new set of recommendations aimed at stamping out betting scams, starting now.

As a result of an inquiry, carried out by two former Scotland Yard detectives, extra security will be introduced at this year's competition.

This will include banning anyone apart from coaches from dressing rooms to prevent potential fixers having access to the sportsmen and women and to stop insider information such as details of injuries leaking out.

Eight Wimbledon matches from previous years have already been identified as suspicious. Four of them were from the men's singles last year, although none involved British players.

Last September, Belgian Gilles Elseneer came forward to say he had turned down a £70,000 offer to throw a game against Italy's Potito Starace at Wimbledon in 2005.

And British number one Andy Murray claimed: 'Everyone knows that match-fixing takes place.'

A tennis player might consider it worthwhile to throw a match if he expects to reach only the second or third round, where the prize money remains less than £30,000, but is offered several times that amount to lose in the first.

Football, horse racing, snooker and cricket have all been dogged by similar betting scandals in recent years.

Ian Ritchie, head of the All England Club, yesterday conceded there was cause for concern.

He said: 'We are trying to deal with this on a global basis. If anybody is proved to be involved, then the penalties, I am sure, will be severe, but nobody has been proved to be involved.'

The inquiry was launched after a dossier compiled by a consortium of bookmakers highlighted surges in betting on often obscure fixtures. The sport's governing bodies commissioned former Met officers Jeff Rees and Ben Gunn to investigate.

They studied the dossier which identified 140 games going back to 2002 involving both male and female players around the world.

And although they found the sport was not 'systematically or institutionally corrupt', they did find 45 of those games merited further investigation.

As part of the crackdown on betting scams, a global tennis integrity unit and an anti-corruption programme will be agreed by organisers of the four grand slams, of which Wimbledon is one.

A dossier, compiled by leading bookmaking companies, says eight Wimbledon matches have been reported on suspicion they were rigged by professional gambling syndicates

Officials will also monitor players who take part in an excessive number of matches over and above those necessary to achieve ranking points.

The report was commissioned following a match in Poland last August when the world number four, Russian Nikolay Davydenko, unexpectedly lost against a rank outsider.

The Betfair internet site declared wagers on the match void after unusually large sums were staked on 74th-ranked Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello, who lost the first set but was handed the match when Davydenko retired injured.

Martina Navratilova last night called for lifetime bans for tennis players who throw matches.

The nine-time women's singles winner said anyone caught throwing a game for money should be removed from the circuit for good.

'I think the only way to really deal with it would be to make extremely severe penalties. And to me any player that would lose a match on purpose  -  they are done for life, lifetime ban.

'Rather than by winning a couple of matches, they are making a lot more money from losing one match. But if you take away their livelihood they will probably think twice about doing it.'