Over "a century of tradition could be scrapped as Victorian racing chiefs consider bumping the Melbourne Cup from the first Tuesday in November." The CEOs of the Melbourne Racing Club, Moonee Valley Racing Club and Victoria Racing Club will meet to discuss the "greatest shake-up of feature races in the history of the Spring Racing Carnival." A "key discussion point will be whether the entire carnival should be pushed back by as much as a fortnight, in part to shrug off the lingering news-grabbing" of the Australian Football League season and take advantage of a November period regarded as "vacant land" for sport (HERALD SUN, 3/11).
Germany and Brazil will meet next year for the first time since the 7-1 rout in the 2014 World Cup semifinals. The int'l friendly, announced by the Brazilian football confederation (CBF), is scheduled for the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on March 27, 2018, "only a few months before the next World Cup in Russia" (London INDEPENDENT, 3/10).
Malaysia's 2019 Asian Cup qualifier against North Korea "due to be played in Pyongyang later this month," has been postponed, the Asian Football Confederation announced on Friday. The FA of Malaysia "had made a request not to play the March 28 fixture in the North Korean capital under pressure from its government following the recent breakdown in relations between the two countries." The countries have become "embroiled in a growing row" after Malaysia accused North Korea of assassinating Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of Pyongyang ruler Kim Jong Un (REUTERS, 3/10).
Jr. NBA, the NBA's global development program for youth basketball players, coaches and league administrators, has returned to Vietnam "for a fourth consecutive year." It will last until June, opening in Ho Chi Minh City and then going to Hà Nội. This year "for the first time it will also go to Đà Nẵng." It is "expected to attract 5,000 children aged 10 to 14 from 200 schools in the three cities" (VIETNAM NEWS, 3/11).
