WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2014 SPORTS Santos to coach Portugal India, Pakistan hockey clash RFL charge Leeds chief LISBON: Fernando Santos is taking over as Portugal coach, despite his INCHEON: India warmed up for their Asian Games field hockey clash against arch- LONDON: The Rugby Football League (RFL) yesterday charged Leeds chief execu- eight-game international ban for misconduct at the World Cup. rivals Pakistan by thrashing Oman 7-0 yesterday as South Korea nudged ahead of tive Gary Hetherington with improper conduct for criticising its investigation into The former Greece coach replaces Paulo Benton, who quit two weeks Japan in the race for the semi-finals. alleged homophobic comments by his club’s full-back Zak Hardaker. ago after a run of poor results, the Portuguese Football Federation said in India, seeking their first Asiad gold medal since 1998, converted five penalty “Leeds Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington has been charged with a brief statement on its website yesterday. corners and a penalty stroke in the one-sided pool B game, but several scoring improper conduct for questioning the motivation and integrity of an RFL investi- The 59-year-old Portuguese will be presented at a news conference on opportunities were wasted. India and Pakistan face-off tomorrow in the competi- gation into an incident in his club’s First Utility Super League fixture against St Wednesday, the statement said, but gave no further information. tion’s marquee match that could determine the pool leader. Both teams have won Helens, played on Friday, August 29,” the RFL said in a statement. “Mr Hetherington FIFA banned Santos in August for verbally abusing match officials in their first two games in the 10-nation tournament. is charged with a breach of operational rules ... by engaging in conduct which is Brazil while coaching Greece. Santos is appealing that ban, with a ruling India beat Sri Lanka 8-0 in their opener, while Pakistan showed their prowess prejudicial to the interests of the game.” Hetherington, 57, will appear before an expected this week. Santos, who was due to leave the Greece job after with a 2-0 win over China and a 14-0 rout of Sri Lanka. independent tribunal on October 1. He had accused the RFL of mounting the tournament, was banished from the dugout after extra time of a sec- “There is always room for improvement, but we will be well-prepared for a “witch-hunt” against Hardaker. The RFL announced last week that it ond-round match against Costa Rica, which finished 1-1. His team then Pakistan,” said India’s Australian coach Terry Walsh. “I am confident we will do well.” was dropping the investigation into Hardaker’s comments due to a lack lost the penalty shootout. Santos needs to rally a Portugal Two teams from each pool qualify for the semi-finals. Hosts South Korea, the high- of evidence. Speaking at the time, Hetherington said: “We are con- team that disappointed at the World Cup, where it went est ranked Asian team at number eight and four-time champions, took a step cerned there appears to be a witch-hunt by the RFL towards Zak home after the first round, and then lost 1-0 to Albania towards the last four from pool A with a 4-0 demolition of Japan. Veteran Jang Hardaker and we are calling for an external investigation into the this month in its opening European Championship quali- Jong-Hyun scored off a penalty corner and a penalty stroke as the Koreans swept issues surrounding the investigation.” Formerly a player with fier. Portugal’s next match in its campaign is against past the lacklustre Japanese with two goals each in the first and third quarters. Castleford, Leeds, York and Huddersfield, Hetherington has Denmark on Oct. 14. Santos has built a reputation for res- South Korea beat Singapore 12-0 in the first game, to join Malaysia at the top of presided over the most successful period in Leeds’ history cuing troubled teams. He took over a Greece that the pool with six points each. Japan, left with one win from two games, must since taking charge in 1996. The Yorkshire club have recorded was in the doldrums after the 2012 World Cup, defeat Singapore and Malaysia in their remaining matches to stay in the hunt for a six Grand Final victories and become world club champions and racked up an unbeaten run in his first 15 semi-final berth. In other matches, Bangladesh beat Singapore 2-1 in pool A and three times in the last decade, while last month they ended a months on the job. —AP China blanked Sri Lanka 6-0 in pool B. — AFP 15-year wait to win the Challenge Cup. — AFP Royals blank Indians CLEVELAND: Danny Duffy pitched six shutout innings for his first win in more than a month as the Kansas City Royals moved closer to the top of the AL Central and kept some distance over Cleveland in the wild-card race, beating the Indians 2-0 on Monday night. Duffy (9-11), who had thrown just one pitch in September before the start, held the Indians to six hits. The left-hander had been sidelined since Sept. 6 with a sore shoulder. Greg Holland worked the ninth for his 44th save as the Royals, seeking their first postseason appear- ance since 1985, moved within one game of first- place Detroit. The Tigers lost 2-0 at home to the White Sox. Carlos Carrasco (8-6) couldn’t keep the momentum going for the Indians, who earlier com- pleted a 4-3 win in 10 innings in a game suspended on Aug. 31 in Kansas City. ATHLETICS 8, ANGELS 4 Jeff Samardzija pitched seven strong innings and received some rare run support as Oakland kept hold of the top AL wild-card spot by beating the West champions. The A’s moved one game ahead of Kansas City for the first wild card. Geovany Soto hit a two-run single to highlight a six-run first inning as the A’s chased C.J. Wilson (13- 10) after just two outs for the second-shortest start of his career. Stephen Vogt added a two-run single in the seventh. Albert Pujols hit a three-run homer in the eighth for Los Angeles, giving him 1,602 RBIs for 33rd on the career list. Samardzija (5-5) beat the Angels for the first time in three career starts and won for the first time in five starts since a victory at Houston on Aug. 25. 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