Dec 18, 2007 1:00 pm US/Eastern
Russian Tennis Star Tied Up, Robbed At Her Home
Chakvetadze And Parents Were Bound During Predawn Robbery Outside Moscow
MOSCOW (AP) ―
Russian tennis star Anna Chakvetadze was tied up by masked robbers who broke into her home Tuesday and stole money and goods worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, her father said.
Six assailants approached the home outside Moscow before dawn, tied up a maid in another building and forced her to hand over a remote control enabling them to enter the house through the garage, Dzhamal Chakvetadze told NTV television.
"They started to beat me, and I resisted. They hit me over the head with, I think, a pistol butt. It was dark," he said, taking off his cap to show his bruised scalp. "They took out a pistol and told me my child was at home - reminded me - and they told me to hand everything over. I did."
Police and Russia tennis coach Shamil Tarpishchev said the assailants tied up Chakvetadze and her parents, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. Tarpishchev said the 20-year-old player, ranked No. 6, "tried to resist but it was useless," ITAR-Tass reported.
NTV said the robbers took about $106,000 in cash, as well as jewelry and other goods worth about $200,000.
Phone calls to Moscow region police were not immediately returned.
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