Former America's Cup sailor Craig Monk "is attempting to put together a Kiwi campaign" for the Volvo Ocean Race, which gets under way in Alicante, Spain, in late October. There is "just one boat left unassigned in the one-design VOR65 fleet, and it is understood the consortium led by Monk has paid the deposit for the boat," but a final decision will "hinge on securing private investment over the next week" (NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 7/20).
India defeated Australia on Thursday in the Int'l Cricket Council Women's World Cup 2017 semifinal, setting up a championship match on Sunday against England at a sold out Lord's cricket ground (ICC).
Tickets to the 2017 NHL China Games in Shanghai and Beijing between the L.A. Kings and the Vancouver Canucks became available to the public to purchase on Thursday. The tickets for the games on Sept. 21 at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai and Sept. 23 at Huaxi LIVE Wukesong's Le Sports Center in Beijing are available via en.Damai.cn. They will be the first preseason games conducted in China (NHL).
An investigation into the possibility that a match at Wimbledon "was subject to match-fixing is not connected to any of the retirements" that took place during the tournament. The London-based Tennis Integrity Unit announced on Wednesday that it is "looking into alerts over unusual betting patterns involving one match at the French Open and three at Wimbledon." No British players are "thought to be under investigation" (London GUARDIAN, 7/19).
Mastercard and the Open Championship are testing out in-seat concession ordering for fans at Royal Birkdale this week. Patrons sitting in the grandstands around the 9th hole can order food and drink via the mobile-payment Qkr app and have it delivered directly to their seats, R&A Dir of Sales & Marketing Malcolm Booth said. The grandstands around the 9th hold "several hundred" fans, Booth said (Josh Carpenter, Assistant Editor).