ATP ask horse racing body for betting probe help

LONDON, Aug 17 (Reuters) The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) has asked the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) to assist its investigations into irregular betting in a match involving Russian world number five Nikolay Davydenko.

In a statement today, ATP executive chairman Etienne de Villiers said: ''We are committed to a thorough, fair and comprehensive ATP investigation and our decision to involve the BHA, as well as employing independent investigators, is testimony to that commitment.

''It underscores how seriously we regard any suggestion of corruption in our sport. The BHA team are industry leaders in this area and their expertise, knowledge and resource will be invaluable to our investigation.'' British online bookmaker Betfair voided all bets on Davydenko's defeat by Argentine Martin Vasallo Arguello at the Sopot Open in Poland. Davydenko won the first set but retired with a foot injury when trailing 2-1 in the deciding set.

''Betting patterns before the market were as expected for this match,'' a Betfair spokesman said today, explaining the turn of events that raised their suspicions.

''But before a ball was struck Arguello the world number 87 had become slight favourite. Davydenko's odds continued to drift and after he won the first set 6-2 he drifted even further. At that point it was clear something was not right.'' Betfair, which allows clients to bet against each other even after the match has started, said that 7.3 million dollar of bets had been placed and accepted on the match.

''Normally for a match like that it would have been around one million dollars,'' the spokesman said.

Davydenko said he had been upset by the controversy surrounding the match and that he had never received any contact from anyone regarding the throwing of a match.

''I play 30 tournaments in a year,'' he said at the time.

''Last year I lost 10 tournaments in the first round, and also sometimes I'm injured and I retire from a match.

''In the future I would like somebody to protect me from all these rumours or something like this that's happening.'' BHA chief executive Nic Coward said they were ''only to happy to oblige'' after being approached by the ATP.

The ATP set up an Anti-Corruption programme in 2003, binding all professional players and their support staff to a stringent set of rules regarding betting. Since then no players have been found to have broken the rules.

REUTERS BJR PM2035