The Tampa Bay Rays "will play an exhibition game against the Cuban national team March 22 in Havana," Major League Baseball and the players’ union announced Tuesday. U.S. President Barack Obama is "expected to attend the game at Estadio Latinoamericano," according to an official involved in its planning, which coincides with Obama’s visit to the island this month. The Rays will be the "first big league team to travel to Cuba since the Baltimore Orioles played the Cuban national team" in the spring of '99. ESPN will televise the game, and flagship show "SportsCenter" will also be broadcast from Havana (N.Y. TIMES, 3/1).
BRIEFLY ...
The first ever World Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts Championship "will be held" in Ho Chi Minh City on July 24-30. The event is "expected to lure more than 850 participants" including martial artists, coaches and referees from 50 delegations (VIETNAM NEWS, 3/2).
Four shelter dogs rescued from the favelas of São Paolo were used as "ball dogs" for a tennis match at last week’s Brazil Open. The dogs "played fetch" during Roberto Carballes Baena and Gastao Elias’ exhibition game, "chasing after loose balls and eventually returning them back to players after a little light encouragement." They were "specially trained by Andrea Beckert from the Association of Animal Wellbeing, who hoped that the stunt will prove that old, untrained dogs can be taught new tricks" (London INDEPENDENT, 3/1).
The committee in charge of the Games of La Francophonie "has recommended Moncton and Dieppe host the 2021 edition." Moncton and Dieppe's bid was submitted officially on Tuesday in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and they "won the recommendation," beating out Sherbrooke, Quebec and Guadeloupe. The permanent council of La Francophonie "will consider the advisory committee's recommendation" on April 7 in Paris (CBC, 3/1).
