Special edition SACHIN TENDULKAR silver coins, with his face, name and signature embossed on them, will be launched on Friday "in the presence of the Indian cricket legend himself." Valuemart Gold & Jewels and Diamond India will launch 15,921 coins, corresponding to the number of runs that the batting maestro scored in Tests during his "glittering 24-year international career" between '89 and '13 (PTI, 3/11). ... Ski jumper TAKANOBU OKABE, a member of the Japan team that won the Gold Medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, "will retire." Okabe, a five-time winner on the World Cup circuit, "will become a coach at the company’s club, according to people close to him" (KYODO, 3/11).
NOTABLE DEATH: Former Australian Football League Melbourne coach and Adelaide senior assistant coach DEAN BAILEY, 47, died Tuesday morning "after a short battle with cancer." Bailey was diagnosed with lung cancer in December. Bailey coached Melbourne between '08-11, winning 22 of 83 games as he "undertook a long-term rebuild of the struggling club’s playing list." Former Melbourne President Paul Gardner paid tribute to Bailey as a "charming man, a lovely man" who was a "loved person" at the club (THE AGE, 3/11).
WANDA PROJECT: Wanda Group President WANG JIANLIN visited La Liga sides Valencia and Villarreal over the weekend and Atlético Madrid on Tuesday as he "reviews the three clubs participating in the Wanda Project." The project, "which was agreed upon" in '10, saw 30 male footballers aged around 13 -- 10 to each club -- set out for Spain in Aug. '12 to "complete a three-year training course at three of the best clubs" in Spain (AS, 3/11).
