Four table tennis players have been suspended after an investigation involving Great Britain’s Gambling Commission exposed their roles in match-fixing and betting on the sport.
Darius Knight, who won a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and was a torch bearer for Team GB at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, is among the Table Tennis England members told to cease all activity in the sport.
Knight has been suspended for six years, while Kazeem Adeleke has been suspended for five years and Joseph Langham-Ferreira for three.
Luke Savill has been suspended for at least six years before review.
The Gambling Commission’s Sports Betting Intelligence Unit (SBIU) started proceedings by forwarding reports of unusual betting activity around table tennis matches in Ukraine in 2020, linked to British betting accounts.
Table Tennis England (TTE) worked with the SBIU, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and specialist consultants and found that Knight, Savill and Langham-Ferreira had been party to fixing table tennis matches and for betting on table tennis matches. Adeleke was not cited for fixing matches, but the independent Disciplinary Committee noted his role in betting on table tennis matches.
Savill and Knight were also referred to the Committee for failing to cooperate with the TTE’s inquiry.
Andrew Rhodes, chief executive of the Gambling Commission, said: “This case highlights the importance of global collaboration in protecting the integrity of sport. Over the past five years, stakeholders across multiple jurisdictions have worked together to investigate and address concerns around match-fixing.
“This demonstrates that safeguarding sport is a shared responsibility, and those who seek to manipulate outcomes face increasing scrutiny. The message is clear, integrity in sport matters, and efforts to uphold it will continue.”
The Gambling Commission has stepped up its enforcement on match-fixing and sporting integrity in recent weeks.
Last week, the regulator revealed the SBIU’s role in a probe which led a darts player to receive an eight-year ban.
The SBIU also had a part to play in snooker professional Mark King being banned from the sport for five years.
