Williams will take a leave

Six-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams will be sidelined indefinitely, though she did not say why she will be out.

“I’ve just been having some issues that I need to resolve, so I’m working on that at the moment and I’m hoping to be back playing as soon as possible,” Williams said Tuesday at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Fla. “I’m not going to get any further into it, but of course I love the sport.”

Williams said last week she was dealing with a medical issue when she announced her withdrawal from the Bausch & Lomb tournament. She played last week in the Sony Ericsson Open, losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals.

Williams will not play for the United States in the Fed Cup semifinal against Russia on April 26-27 but said she still wants to play in the French Open beginning in late May.

“Of course I want to be there” in France, Williams said. “I don’t want to be at home watching on TV.”

On the court, Lindsay Davenport began her quest for a fourth Bausch & Lomb Championships title with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Vania King.

Olga Govortsova upset No. 4 Marion Bartoli in a second-round match. No. 8 Agnes Szavay, No. 13 Virginie Razzano and No. 15 Anabel Medina Garrigues won their second-round matches. No. 12 Katarina Srebotnik and No. 14 Victoria Azarenka were first-round winners.

BOXING

Klitschko is set to fight Thompson

Heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko has selected Tony Thompson as his next opponent, Thompson’s promoter Dan Goossen said, and negotiations are being finalized to stage the bout July 12 in Germany.

Klitschko (50-3, 44 knockouts) won a unanimous decision in February over Sultan Igbragimov. In Thompson (31-1, 19 KOs), he will fight the World Boxing Organization’s top contender, a 6-foot-5 fighter from Washington D.C., who hasn’t lost since 2000.

World Boxing Council super welterweight champion Vernon Forrest (40-2, 29 KOs) will put his title on the line against Sergio Mora (20-0-1, five KOs) of Whittier on June 7 at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn. Mora won “The Contender” television series on Oct. 15, 2005.

Also on the card, Carlos Quintana (25-1, 19 KOs) will fight Paul Williams (33-1, 24 KOs) for the WBO welterweight championship.

PRO FOOTBALL

Stover wants Upshaw to be replaced

Matt Stover, the Baltimore Ravens’ veteran kicker, has begun a campaign to succeed Gene Upshaw as executive director of the NFL Players Assn. by next March.

Stover’s action comes at a time when the union could be heading for negotiations with the league on the collective-bargaining agreement.

Upshaw, whose contract runs through 2010, has said he will not leave until the union gets through its latest negotiations with the owners, who are expected to opt out of their March 2006 agreement with the union next November.

MISCELLANY

Newman draws NASCAR penalty

Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman became the latest driver penalized by NASCAR, losing 25 points because his car failed inspection at Texas Motor Speedway.

The penalty dropped Newman from eighth to 10th in the Sprint Cup standings.

Also penalized were car owner Roger Penske, who was docked 25 points, and crew chief Roy McCauley, fined $25,000 and put on probation until the end of the year.

Narcotics officers searched a weightlifting facility and a pharmacy in Athens as part of a doping investigation of Greek weightlifters.

Police said the spot inspections were requested by a prosecutor leading the doping investigation and involved officials from the Health Ministry’s drug regulator, the National Organization for Medicines.

Defenseman Heidi Pelttari scored a power-play goal 3:42 into overtime and Finland defeated the United States, 1-0, in the World Women’s Hockey Championship at Harbin, China.

Penn State receiver Chris Bell was kicked off the team after university police charged him with threatening another player with a knife.

WNBA All-Star Becky Hammon will play for Russia at the Beijing Olympics. Hammon said that she signed with the Russian national team Monday about two weeks after getting her Russian passport.

PASSINGS

Estella Aaron, mother of Henry

Estella Aaron, the mother of baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, has died. She was 96. . . . Joe Shell, captain of USC’s 1939 national championship football team, died Monday in Bakersfield. He was 89.