■GOLF
Storms halt Singapore play
PHOTO: AFP
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.”
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
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