Five cities submitted their bids to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Summer Games to the IOC. Those cities are Buenos Aires (Argentina), Glasgow (Scotland), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Guadalajara (Mexico) and Medellin (Columbia). The IOC will announce its decision on July 4 (SID, 10/16). ... Houston has been awarded the Int'l Rugby Women's Sevens World Series. The city will host 12 int'l women's teams Feb. 1-2, at the BBVA Compass Stadium. The int'l teams are: New Zealand, England, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Brazil, South Africa, Russia, Japan, Argentina, Trinidad & Tobago and the U.S. This int'l series will be hosted annually in Houston through '15, leading up to the 2016 Rio Games, where rugby will debut as one of the new Olympic sports (BBVA Compass Stadium). ... The Thailand Golf Association will host the 78th Singha Thailand Amateur Open this week and the 5th Singha Thailand Junior World Golf Championships 2012 next month. TGA President Rangsrid Luxitanond said that 15 countries including South Korea, Singapore, Denmark and the Philippines are participating in the Singha Thailand Amateur Open at Panya Golf Club in Bangkok, which began Tuesday and culminates Friday (BANGKOK POST, 10/14). ... Hong Kong submitted its bid for either the '16 or '18 world short course championships, "confident it can raise the money required to host the event." A special team from swimming's governing body, FINA, will make a site visit to Hong Kong next month to inspect the facilities, and a decision will be made in December during the '12 short course championships in Istanbul (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 10/16).
