Basketball club owner murdered in central Moscow

MOSCOW, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Owner of a women's basketball club in Russia was shot dead Monday in downtown Moscow, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Shatai von Kalmanovich, who owns the Spartak-Moscow Region club,was gunned down around 04:50 p.m. local time (1350 GMT), accordingto Anatoly Bagmet, a senior investigation officer.

The 61-year-old Russian-Israeli businessman had been shot some 20 times and died instantly, Bagmet said, adding that the attack was probably a contract killing.

Spartak-Moscow Region, which won the European Super Cup two weeks ago, has been the women's European League champions for the last three years.