France and Barcelona defender Eric Abidal has "become the latest addition to an already star-studded line-up" of speakers for the 7th Dubai Int'l Sports Conference to be held at the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel in Dubai, UAE on Dec. 28-29 (GULF NEWS, 12/13). ... The Madeira Islands Open in Portugal will return to Santo da Serra May 16-19. The golf tournament will again form part of both the European and Challenge Tour schedules with the prize money counting toward the Race to Dubai and Challenge Tour Rankings (European Tour). ... The qualifying rounds of the 2013 Ricoh Women's Britsh Open will be held at Kingsbarns Golf Links on the eastern coast of Scotland July 29th. The Women's British Open will be held at Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland Aug. 1-4 (British Open). ... The Int'l Cricket Council announced that British territory Jersey and Botswana will host the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 6 and 7 tournaments, respectively, in '13. Botswana will host Division 7 from April 6-13, which will include Botswana, Fiji, Germany, Ghana, Nigeria and Vanuatu. The top two sides will join Kuwait, Jersey, Argentina and Bahrain in Division 6, which will be held in Jersey from July 21-18 (ICC). ... Iran will host the Asian Kabaddi Championship in Tehran next year (PTI, 12/13). ... Scottish Third Division Elgin City will bid to "avoid a repeat of the ticketing shambles," which led to its clash with Scottish Third Division Rangers being called off when it launches a public sale tonight for home supporters for the rearranged match. Tickets, which are limited to two per sale, went on sale to Elgin fans from 6:30pm to 8:30pm Thursday evening and will be again from noon to 2pm on Friday (SCOTSMAN, 12/13).
