"Just say no, it costs a lot more than it brings in" - Kim Huybrechts gives advice in relation to match-fixing
PDC
Leighton Bennett was recently suspended for eight years for match-fixing. The 18-year-old Englishman ran afoul of the Modus Super Series late last year. According to Belgian pro Kim Huybrechts though, players should know better.
The Double Top podcast discussed the suspension of the former darting prodigy in detail. "Eight years of suspension is quite severe, his career had actually yet to start well and truly," assesses Huybrechts. "It's unfortunate for him, but somewhere good that this makes young darters realize that match-fixing is absolutely not acceptable."
Previously, Wessel Nijman was suspended for two and a half years for match-fixing, but has since returned to the fold and begun to make a name for himself in a positive sense. "But he did cooperate with the investigation," notes VTM 2 commentator Matthias De Vlieger. "I also think Wessel is a very different person. Bennett was a bit known as a 'bad boy' in a short time anyway."
Bennett became youth world champion at age 13 with the WDF and was already being called "the new Phil Taylor." At a young age, he also won several tournaments amongst the adults. "But his career is over now I think," Huybrechts said. "So to young darters I would give the wise advice: 'you're going to be approached, but say no, it ends up costing a lot more than it brings in.'"
Huybrechts, incidentally, is convinced that players have also slipped through the cracks in the past. "That will undoubtedly be the case, that happens with any criminal activity. But if you do get caught, you pay the price for it anyway. So just don't do it!"
The question is whether an organization like Modus Super Series, where a number of cases of matchfixing have surfaced anyway, can do anything about it. "I find that difficult, as an organization you cannot monitor the players 24 hours a day. Eventually, the realization has to get through to the players themselves that matchfixing is unacceptable."
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