■GOLF
Storms halt Singapore play
Heavy rain and the threat of lightning yesterday forced officials at the Singapore Open to suspend play halfway through the opening round of the US$5 million co-sanctioned event. The morning flights all managed to complete their rounds before action was halted at 2:15pm at the Serapong Course. Ian Poulter is the clubhouse leader after the Englishman fired a five-under-par 66, one ahead of Ernie Els of South Africa and Taiwanese qualifier Chan Yih-shin (pictured).
■SOCCER
Olympiakos club bombed
Greek police say a small bomb has exploded outside an Olympiakos fan club office in central Athens, causing minor damage and no injuries. A police statement says the bomb, made of camping-gas canisters tied together, damaged the club entrance and two cars parked outside early on Wednesday. There was nobody in the club. There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack in the city’s Pangrati district. On Tuesday, Olympiakos lost to second-division club Panserraikos 3-1 in the Greek Cup.
■BASEBALL
McCourt fights wife’s return
Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is opposing his wife’s demand to be reinstated as a team executive. He cites insubordination and an inappropriate relationship she allegedly had with her bodyguard. McCourt’s attorney filed papers on Wednesday in a Los Angeles court, one day after his wife, Jamie McCourt, filed divorce papers seeking to regain her job as Dodgers chief executive. The documents filed by Frank McCourt accuse his wife of taking a trip with her bodyguard in early July to Israel on team business, but then heading to France for two-and-a-half weeks and billing the Dodgers for the trip. Scott Altman, a family law professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said if Jamie McCourt were to convince the judge that a 2004 marital property agreement that gave ownership of the team to her husband is not valid, either because she was misled or did not understand the agreement, the court can order a sale of the Major League Baseball franchise.
■SOCCER
Player charged with assault
West Ham defender Calum Davenport was charged on Wednesday with assaulting his sister during an incident in which her boyfriend stands accused of stabbing both him and the player’s mother. Davenport, 26, denies the charge of assault causing actual bodily harm. Sources said the woman in question was his sister Cara, 28. Her boyfriend Worrell Whitehurst, 25, has appeared in court charged with attacking the soccer player and his mother, Kim Stupple, 49. Davenport required surgery on both legs after the incident outside his family home in Bedford, England, on Aug. 22. “I am deeply shocked and disappointed at the decision that has been made to charge me with assault,” Davenport said in a statement. “I deny any wrongdoing and will plead not guilty. For legal reasons, I am unable to discuss the matter further at this time.”
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