The FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championships "started in front of a record crowd on Saturday." The opening match between host Poland and Serbia "attracted 62,000 spectators at Warsaw's National Stadium." Tickets for the game, which Poland won 3-0, "were gone in less than 100 minutes." The last outdoor game at a world championship "took place in Moscow in '52 and attracted 50,000 spectators" (SID, 8/30). ... Roger Federer said that he is "coming back to Brisbane" to make it the "28th city in which he has won a singles title." He was confirmed on Monday as the "first name" for the '15 Brisbane Int'l, which will be played at the Queensland Tennis Centre from Jan. 4-11. Federer, 33, played in Brisbane "for the first time last summer,
finishing runner-up to Lleyton Hewitt as the tournament attendance
smashed the 100,000 barrier for the first time" (COURIER-MAIL, 9/1). ... Bulgarian football club Ludogorets Razgrad will play its home games in the Champions League at the National Stadium Vasil Levski in Sofia. There were concerns that the stadium in the Bulgarian capital "would not
get the required license from UEFA to meet Champions League hosting
criteria as a Category 4 stadium." However, the management of Ludogorets
has said that it is "committed and can meet all the stadium requirements" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 9/1).
