Russian doubles badminton player Nikita Khakimov has received a five-year ban after being found guilty of offenses relating to “betting, wagering and irregular match results,” the Badminton World Federation (BWF) said on Wednesday. The BWF opened an investigation against Khakimov after obtaining a statement from a whistleblower, who claimed the shuttler had approached him to manipulate match results at the European Teams Championships held in Feb. 2018. An independent panel found Khakimov to be in breach of BWF’s integrity regulations, including approaching a player and offering money to manipulate a match, betting on badminton games and “deliberately destroying evidence of a corruption offense to conceal from the BWF.”