This year's World Rally Championship's Rally Catalonia, which will take place from Thursday through Sunday in the Spanish state of Catalonia, "will add as its new feature three night stages that will leave from Barcelona." At the presentation of the event on Tuesday, organizers indicated that "with the addition of the new feature, the event will win on emotion." The race will "consist of 15 different sections and cover 1,389 km" (EFE, 10/22). ... Seville, Spain's Blas Infante Tennis Center has joined five other venues confirmed to host Fed Cup World Group and World Group II first round matches Feb. 8-9. The Seville venue made its Int'l Tennis Federation debut in '03, when it hosted a Davis Cup contest between Spain and Belgium (Fed Cup). ... In its 33rd year, the Beijing Marathon has drawn 30,000 participants, with all registering in only 13 hours after bookings opened on Sept. 8, setting a "speed record for registration." The full marathon (42.195 km) had 15,000 people register this year. Another 7,000 "signed up for the half-course and 8,000 took part in a mini-marathon (4.2 km)" (CHINA DAILY, 10/21). ... Sports fans "who missed out on the first round of ticket allocations for the Commonwealth Games" on Monday faced "long waits in order to secure briefs for the sporting spectacle." Spectators "endured online queues of up to an hour in some cases" as the organizers of Glasgow 2014 released "thousands of tickets" (SCOTSMAN, 10/22).
