The Chinese government's Mega Events Fund has "delivered another hammer blow to the Hong Kong Open by denying a multimillion-dollar cry for help for a tournament besieged with problems on many fronts." The Hong Kong Golf Association did not "reveal the reasons why it failed." The government "would have been far from impressed last year" when then Rory McIlroy "missed the cut after receiving the lion's share" of the HK$15M given by the MEF "as his appearance fee" (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 10/30). ... The "full daily ticket price" for the '14 Open Championship has been kept at £75 ($121) despite "that cost contributing to poor attendances at Muirfield in July." Details of the pricing have posted on the Open Championship's website. For practice days, the most expensive ticket "is the full Wednesday price" of £40 ($64.26). A "season-ticket bought after the cut-off for the early bird offer" is £240 ($386) (SCOTSMAN, 10/30). ... The second One Day Int'l between Pakistan and South Africa at the Dubai Int'l Cricket Stadium "could be played in front of a sell-out crowd." The demand for tickets for Friday's match "has been so high that many sections in the stadium have already been sold out" (GULF NEWS, 10/30). ... A team from China backed by Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle and run by leading sailing experts OC Sport will race in the next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race in '14-15 (OC Sport). ... The founder of the "last Australian-owned corporate bookmaking firm," Michael Eskander, "is urging Racing Victoria officials to cap the internationals for future Melbourne Cups so local stayers still have a chance of competing" in the A$6M ($5.7M) event. While Eskander "admits that much of the revenue his firm, Betstar, has collected over the past two decades" has been derived from gambling against int'l visiting racehorses, he is "concerned the Australian bred, owned, trained and ridden stayers will fall further behind" (THE AGE, 10/31). ... The Pahang FA has been "accused of discrimination after allowing only Pahang-born fans to purchase tickets for the Malaysia Cup final" at the Darul Makmur Stadium on Wednesday (THE STAR, 10/30).
