Mexico will be the host of the Ice Hockey Pan American Championship and Women's Division II-Group B Qualification Ice Hockey World Championship. Both events will be held at Mexico City's Intercontinental University, with the men's event taking place from Sunday until March 9 and the women's from March 19-22. Teams from Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Colombia will compete in the men's tournament, while the women's tournament, which will be played in Mexico for the first time, will include teams from Hong Kong, South Africa and Bulgaria (INFORMADOR, 2/26). ... The Sri Lanka Premier League has been "scrapped in favour of a short domestic Twenty20 tournament for the second consecutive year," after Sri Lanka Cricket failed to attract "meaningful commercial interest in the tournament." The SLPL has "failed to materialise in three of the four years since it had been announced" (ESPN, 2/27). ... Nippon Professional Baseball Commissioner Katsuhiko Kumazaki said on Thursday that Japan is preparing to send its national baseball team "against visiting major league stars in November." Kumazaki: "We are planning Japan-U.S. games. It's something one might call a test of strength" (KYODO, 2/27). ... The Board of Control for Cricket in India Working Committee "will meet in Bhubaneshwar on Friday to shortlist two prospective countries which will be kept as alternative venues" for the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League -- which is coinciding with the general elections. While South Africa is the front-runner having had the experience of hosting the second season of the Indian Premier League, the UAE "is also among the countries being considered for the event" to be held between the April 9-June 3 window (PTI, 2/27).
