The Open de France has "become the eighth tournament to be added to the European Tour's new Rolex Series." The tournament at Le Golf National, the host course for the 2018 Ryder Cup, "has a new sponsor in China's HNA Group and will now carry a prize fund" of more than £5.75M ($7M). It will be the second event of the Rolex Series, "which opens with the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in the last week of May" (SKY SPORTS, 1/9).
The World Handball Championship organizers announced they expect 431,000 spectators “during the two and a half weeks of the competition.” The organizing committee’s goal remains to sell 500,000 of the possible 656,000 tickets, an “essential condition to balance the budget” which amounts to €30M ($31.7M) (L’ÉQUIPE, 1/9).
The Isle of Man has been "chosen to host" the 2017 British Cycling National Road Championships. This year's event "will feature the time trials" on June 22 and road races three days later. The Isle of Man "narrowly lost out to Stockton-on-Tees in a bid to host the event last year" (BBC, 1/9).
Australian cricket fans set a new test match record for attendances over a summer that did not feature England or India. A total of 521,725 attended the six-match Commonwealth Bank Test series that featured South Africa and Pakistan, passing the previous record of 515,157 in '05-06, featuring the West Indies and South Africa (also over six tests) (Cricket Australia).
The Pakistan Cricket Board on Sunday confirmed that the "final of this year's Pakistan Super League would be held in Lahore on March 9." The PCB confirmed that it is "now working on the plans to bring the international players to the country, and if the players are not comfortable with the security arrangements, the PCB is also working on backup plans to replace these players" (DAWN, 1/9).
Egypt's Africa Cup of Nations warm-up win over Tunisia was "overshadowed by crowd protests and clashes with police in Cairo on Sunday night." Supporters protesting against Egyptian Premier League club Zamalek Chair Mortada Mansour "raised banners reading 'Release our fans, execute Mansour,' as riot police and plain-clothed officers tried to contain disorder" (London DAILY MAIL, 1/8).
Yas Island will be the "new home" for the Int'l Triathlon Union World Triathlon Abu Dhabi for '17. The event is "switching base from Corniche with an eye on hosting the 2021 ITU Triathlon Grand Finals." The capital is set to place the bid for the event and Yas Island "fulfils all the needed criteria" to host. The event will be held on March 3-4 (GULF NEWS, 1/9).
The Int'l Cycling Union (UCI) announced that L.A. will organize the 2017 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships from March 2-5.
Racing will take place at the VELO Sports Center in Carson, L.A. It is the first time in the history of para-cycling that there will be a UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships the season following the Paralympic Games (UCI).
