Fiji will field a team in the 2017 Buildcorp NRC, with the competition "set to return to nine," in what Australian Rugby Union CEO Bill Pulver says "is world rugby repaying some of the debt owed to the island nation." The first overseas-based NRC team "has been granted entry for the next four years." Fiji’s roster will include 30 locally-based players and the Fiji Rugby Union has begun to look for a "permanent home base for the side, which will play all of its home games in Fiji." Pulver said that the inclusion "would be beneficial in a number of ways," particularly giving Fiji’s emerging rugby stars "the chance to play at home, rather than move overseas." He said, "The whole world knows that Fijian rugby is a unique strength of the game globally" (RUGBY.COM.AU, 10/13).
England's national football team will play Germany in a friendly in Dortmund on March 22, the FA said. The "match between the old rivals" will take place four days before England plays a World Cup qualifier against Lithuania at Wembley (REUTERS, 10/14).
A £30M ($36.4M) mega-fight between Int'l Boxing Federation world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and former world No. 1 Wladimir Klitschko on Dec. 10 "is set to be confirmed by Matchroom Sport early next week." Negotiations for the contest between the unbeaten London 2012 Olympic super-heavyweight champion and the Ukrainian were "near completion late last week," with the Manchester Arena the favored venue (London TELEGRAPH, 10/15).
Buoyed by "the growing returns," the Dubai Sports Council has "vowed to ensure the highest status possible for its annual Dubai Tour that is normally held in the first week of February each year." Launched as part of the UCI Asia Tour in '14 with a 2.1 classification, the DSC had the second edition upgraded to a 2. HC race -- "paving the way for more UCI World Tour teams to compete" since '15. Such "steady progress" has made the organizers "dream for bigger aspirations." DSC General Secretary Saeed Hareb said, "Perhaps, we need to add one more stage and have the race over five days." The news was revealed at the announcement of Commercial Bank of Dubai’s extension of its sponsorship for the event until '19 (GULF NEWS, 10/15).
European Tour officials "are urgently investigating reports that the southern Turkish holiday resort region of Antalya was hit in a rocket attack on Friday." Turkish media reported that two rockets "were fired from a mountainous area close to the highway linking the city of Antalya to the resort town of Kemer." The Turkish Airlines Open, the first of the European Tour's lucrative Final Series events, is scheduled to be held at the Regnum Carya Golf & Spa Resort in Antalya from Nov. 3-6 (PA, 10/14).
