"A tough, but right punishment" - Top darters unanimously agree on long suspension of former top talent Leighton Bennett
PDC
Leighton Bennett made his mark at a young age and was even called the new Phil Taylor by some experts. At the age of 18, however, his career was in complete ruin after he was suspended for eight years for match-fixing.
Bennett was caught cheating at the Modus Super Series last September and recently received his punishment from the Darts Regulation Authority (DRA). A punishment that absolutely does not surprise Michael van Gerwen. "No, exactly not. I completely agree," he told Sportnieuws.nl.
"I'm not shocked by it, think it's totally justified. I think more things happened after that that couldn't go through. That it added up and they want to deal with this rock hard. How can they do that? By punishing rock hard. This sets an example."
Warnings
Raymond van Barneveld also fully agrees with the DRA's decision. "A tough, but right punishment. I quite understand that when you're eighteen you can sometimes be rather thoughtless. But if you let yourself be so easily persuaded to give away games.... There have been so many warnings that this would be dealt with harshly. Maybe the punishment should have been life in prison. That would totally shock the dart world. Then everyone would think. It's not right, it shouldn't be and it can't be justified."
Reigning world champion Luke Humphries also likes the fact that match-fixing is being dealt with very strictly. "Silly, silly boy. We want to ban that kind of thing from the sport. This shouldn't even occur to you to do. If you also deny it and are found guilty, then you have to live with the harshest measures. Hopefully this will keep all match-fixing players away. Integrity is important in our sport."
🚨 BANNED FOR 8 YEARS🚨
— DartsAnonymous (@anonymous_darts) December 2, 2024
Leighton Bennett has been found guilty of 10 charges for fixing four matches, provided inside information on matches, of failing to assist an investigation and for signing a contract with an unregistered agent. pic.twitter.com/WU8aQnUhNa
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