Water polo players organisation to hold match-fixing seminar

The Water Polo Players Organization (WPO) has announced the first ever WPO ProTect Integrity Seminar against match-fixing, hosted by Malta’s Aquatic Sports Association (ASA).

The seminar, followed by a joint ASA-WPO press conference, will take place on 22 July at the Tal-Qroqq Sports Complex in Gzira Malta.

The WPO Protect Integrity Project is part of a collaboration between the WPO, the EU Commission and EU Athletes and international police organization INTERPOL.

The seminar will teach powerful ways to combat matching fixing, betting, and other illegal activities that damage the sport of water polo.

The meeting additionally seeks to improve the solidarity of water polo players across the globe. All who attend will work directly on this mission with several of the most well-known water polo players in the world, including Mark Kallay and Rajmund Fodor. 

Speakers at the event include WPO attorney Alessandro Oliverio, Eric Konings from Unibet, as well as representatives from the European Sport Security Association (ESSA) and INTERPOL. WPO president Tony Azevedo cannot attend the seminar due to Olympic training. However, he is passionate about pushing the ProTect Integrity mission forward. “How many of us have lost games unfairly due match-fixing, betting, or bad referees?” says Azevedo. “This crime will only stop if we work together, and the upcoming ProTect Integrity seminar is a huge first step in the right direction.”