Chelsea has added a May 30 fixture in Bangkok against a Thailand All Stars team to its "lengthy close season plans." Chelsea, which played fixtures in Thailand in '11 and '13, will play at the Rajamangala Stadium before flying on to Australia
to face A-League side Sydney FC on June 2. Organizers of the Bangkok fixture said it was being held to "celebrate the 88th birthday" of the Thai king (REUTERS, 5/7). ... The World Match Racing Tour has added two events to its '15-16 world championship schedule. "The Sails of White Nights" held in St. Petersburg, Russia and the Internationaux de France in Pornichet, France will both join the professional sailing series as World Tour Events. The tour now features 19 events including seven World Championship and 12 World Tour events under the new format announced earlier this year (World Match Racing Tour). ... Somali football officials said that the 2016 Olympic qualifying football match between Somalia and Rwanda has been moved from Nairobi to Djibouti after Kenya declined to host the game (GULF TODAY, 5/7). ... The official distance of the Grand National "has been reduced by a furlong after new measurements of racecourses." Dozens of tracks will be re-classified starting June 1 after it was revealed the "published distance of a big race at Wetherby was 78 yards short." The new method "replaces a surveyor's wheel in the mid-point of the course with a more accurate assessment two yards outside the inner rail position" (BBC, 5/6). ... The Danish FA (DBU) will "not set aside a secure area" of the national stadium in Copenhagen for groups of Serbian fans when Serbia and Denmark meet in a Euro 2016 qualifier on June 13. In effect, that means organized groups of Serbian supporters "will not be able to attend the match, although a Serbian football official said individual Serbian fans will be let in" (REUTERS, 5/6). ... World Surf League confirmed the Franito Pro Junior Teguise as the final stop of the men and women's European Junior Qualifying Series to be held at the lefthand pointbreak of San Juan from Sept. 16-20 (World Surf League).
