Shanghai SIPG will host Atlético Madrid in the Wanda Int'l Football Tournament friendly match on Aug. 4 as part of Atlético's preseason tour of Asia. Atlético's match against SIPG at the Shanghai Stadium will kick off at 7pm and "conclude a two-stop tour" that starts with a match against J.League side Sagan Tosu in Japan on Aug. 1 (XINHUA, 7/15). ... Former Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting has "given his public support to calls" by the MCC World Cricket Committee for Twenty20 cricket to be included as an Olympic sport. Some officials in major cricket nations such as England "have long been resistant to the idea of the sport joining the Olympics." Ponting said, "The opportunity to open up different markets, considering the Olympics
is the pinnacle of global sport, to be able to get cricket into
something like that would be an awesome spectacle in itself" (AAP, 7/15). ... Twelve cities in Japan marked the "official kickoff" of Rugby World Cup 2019 in Tokyo on Wednesday. Rugby World Cup 2019 Organizing Committee GM Koji Tokumasu said, "This is an opportunity to congratulate the 12 cities that were chosen in March to be hosts and for them to get together and start planning for a successful tournament." The latest estimates from World Rugby suggest "as many as 400,000 foreigners
could make the trip to Japan, the first time the Rugby World Cup will be
held outside an established rugby nation" (KYODO, 7/15).
