American Sloane Stephens secured a "stunning triumph" at the US Open. Organizers of the Hong Kong Tennis Open were "thrilled" when they confirmed on Sunday that the 24-year-old American will join the event in October. Stephens will join Venus Williams, whom she eliminated in the semifinal in N.Y., defending HKTO champion Caroline Wozniacki and British No. 1 Johanna Konta at the Victoria Park tournament (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 9/10).
Forty-one North American cities have declared an interest in hosting matches at the 2026 World Cup "as part of the joint bid" by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. A shortlist will be announced later this year, "with 20 to 25 to be included in the final bid to FIFA." In July, the U.S. bid committee offered 44 cities a chance to show interest and got responses from all but three (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 9/8).
After announcing its inaugural "Ultra World Championship" 24-hour event in Iceland, Spartan added a five-mile "Sprint" course with more than 20 obstacles and a 60-hour "Agoge" to the weekend's schedule of events. The Spartan events are scheduled from Dec. 14-17 (Spartan).
Sri Lanka will return to Lahore for a Twenty20 int'l at the end of October, "eight years after gunmen attacked a bus carrying its players in the Pakistan city." Apart from a visit by Zimbabwe in '15, Pakistan has been "starved" of int'l cricket since the '09 attack in which six security staff and two civilians were killed and six of Sri Lanka’s players were wounded. Subject to security clearance, Sri Lanka will play Pakistan at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Oct. 29 in the final fixture of a three-match T20 series (REUTERS, 9/10).
