WBO welterweight world champion Manny Pacquiao could fight Australian Jeff Horn in Queensland state after officials confirmed on Sunday that they were "in negotiations to host the bout." There has been speculation for weeks that the 38-year-old Filipino "will get into the ring with Horn in April, possibly in Australia." Queensland Tourism Minister Kate Jones said, "We now are getting the pieces together to deliver this major fight. ... We're hoping to lock this down as soon as possible" (AFP, 1/29).
Pakistan will host the final of its domestic Twenty20 tournament on home soil in March, the Pakistan Cricket Board said, "a big lift for a nation which has largely been shunned" by int'l teams since '09 due to security risks. Last year, the inaugural Pakistan Super League, based on the franchise model of the Indian Premier League and Australia's Big Bash League, "became a success though all the matches were played in the United Arab Emirates." The PCB said at the time that the real test "would be to bring the game back home" (REUTERS, 1/30).
Hong Kong racing fans "turned up in droves for the start of the Lunar New Year but even their physical presence was dwarfed by their participation through the windows" on a raceday that "looked auspicious in many ways" going forward. The crowd of 96,000 -- more than 90,000 of them at Sha Tin -- was "not a record" but the best since '14. The turnover, however, was an all-time record for the day at HK$1.8B ($230,000), "nudged along by a commingling record" of HK$96M ($12.4M), including around HK$25M ($3.2M) bet in the U.K (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 1/30).
The Great Scottish Run half-marathon course in '16 has been found to be "about 150m short" after remeasurement. Organizers measured the Glasgow route on Sunday after "some competitors raised concerns about the distance." The course, beginning in George Square and ending at Glasgow Green, was 149.7m short of the full 13.1 miles. This "invalidates the record" set by winner Callum Hawkins and the personal best times recorded by a number of runners on the day (BBC, 1/30).
