Sports briefs for October 8, 2003

Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2003 | 10:26 a.m.

Heatley will attend teammate's funeral

Dany Heatley will be allowed to attend the funeral Fridday of the Atlanta Thrashers teammate whose life he is accused of ending.

On Tuesday, Fulton County Magistrate Richard Hicks signed a consent order allowing Heatley, who's free on $50,000 bond, to travel to Ontario for the memorial of his close friend and teammate, Dan Snyder.

Heatley, who had surgery on his right knee Tuesday at St. Joseph's Hospital, will go if he's well enough. The surgery was to repair a complete tear of the MCL, reconstruction of a complete tear of the ACL and a repair of his lateral meniscus in his right knee.

The Thrashers will play their opening game vs. Columbus Thursday.

After the game, the team will fly to Elmira, Snyder's hometown about 70 miles from Toronto, for a 1 p.m. Friday service.

Heatley is charged with felony vehicular homicide for driving recklessly on Lenox Road Sept. 29. Snyder, a passenger in Heatley's Ferrari, died Sunday night from head injuries.

Jackie Robinson honored

The House approved by voice vote legislation to award a Congressional Gold Medal to Jackie Robinson, the late baseball star who broke the major leagues' color barrier.

Olympians selected

Lisa Leslie and Dawn Staley were among seven WNBA veterans selected today for the U.S. national team that will play in the Athens Olympics. Also named were Tamika Catchings, Shannon Johnson, DeLisha Milton-Jones, Katie Smith and Tina Thompson. The other five spots will be filled after a training camp next summer.

A first for Donovan

Landon Donovan won the Honda Award as the men's national soccer player of the year, becoming the first to win the honor in consecutive years.

Xerox bows out

Xerox, which has been involved with the Olympics for almost four decades, will drop its global sponsorship agreement after the Athens Games.