Italian player goes on hunger strike in fix protest
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Buy SPH photos(REUTERS) - Soccer player Emanuele Pesoli has chained himself to the gates of the Italian football federation headquarters in Rome and gone on hunger strike in protest at being banned for three years in a match-fixing scandal.
The former Siena player, now at Verona, was among a number of Italian footballers, coaches, clubs and team owners to be hit with bans by the federation on Friday after verdicts were reached in an illegal betting probe.
Juventus coach Antonio Conte, also facing a police investigation, was banned for 10 months for not reporting match-fixing while boss of Siena and Pesoli.
"I am hurt by the sentence and I would like to confront those who accuse me," Pesoli, 31, told Gazzetta dello Sport's website on Saturday, questioning the testimony of other players which helped convict him.
