Italy coach suspended for year after row

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Sydney: Italy's water polo coach Ratko Rudic was banned for a year on Saturday following a furious outburst after his team was beaten by Hungary in the quarter-finals of the Olympic tournament.

International Swimming Federation (FINA), the sport's world governing body, said Rudic had been banned from the Olympics and all FINA tournaments for having brought the sport into disrepute.

Three Italian players were suspended from between one and four games for their part in the outburst after their team, who had not been beaten throughout the preliminary round-robin series, were defeated 8-5 on Friday by Hungary.

Hungary went on to beat Yugoslavia in Saturday's semi-finals and will meet Russia in Sunday's final.

FINA honorary secretary Gunnar Werner said the Italians had accused the referees of bias. Rudic led his native Yugoslavia to two Olympic titles in 1984 and 1988 and then steered Italy to the title at the 1992 BarcelonaGames. Italy were bronze medallists in 1996.

Italian player Roberto Calcaterra was banned for four games, his brother Alessandro for two and 37-year-old goalkeeper and captain Francesco Attolico for one.



(c) Reuters Limited.