Following are some recent cases of criminal assault against sporting figures.

- March 18, 2007: Pakistan's cricket coach Bob Woolmer is strangled in his hotel room in Jamaica.

- October 2006: Former heavyweight boxing champion Trevor Berbick is found murdered at his home, also in Jamaica.

- January 2005: Dimitri Nelyubin, a former Russian cycling champion, dies after being stabbed during New Year festivities in Saint Petersburg.

- December 2004: Former European lightweight boxing champion Johnny Catherine is brutally beaten and murdered by a gang near his home on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion.

- January 2004: David Hookes, an Australian former cricket batsman, dies of head injuries after being assaulted in a pub near Melbourne.

- January 1996: The US Olympic wrestling champion Dave Schultz is shot dead in Pennsylvania by the deranged head of one of his main sponsoring companies.

- July 1994: Colombian footballer Andres Escobar is shot dead in his home in the city of Medellin, only days after he scored a notorious own goal in a World Cup match.

- March 1995: The Swedish ice hockey player Peter Karlsson is stabbed to death by a 19-year-old youth, who appears to have targetted him because he was homosexual.

- April 1993: The Hungarian-born tennis star Monica Seles is stabbed and seriously injured by a deranged fan during a match in Hamburg. She recovers and is later able to return to championship playing.

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)