The future of the British & Irish Lions has been "declared safe" by CEO John Feehan following Saturday's triumph over New Zealand. Time constraints and demands for more money from clubs have "threatened the Lions concept," but Feehan said that tours are only going to get "bigger and better." South Africa will host the Lions in '21 (London DAILY MAIL, 7/2).
Man City and Tottenham "accepted an invitation" to enter their U21 sides into the English Football League Trophy, having turned down the opportunity last season. They join Chelsea among next season’s Champions League clubs "entering alongside League One and League Two sides." Liverpool, Arsenal and ManU abstained. Several amendments were announced to the format, including an increase in competition funding to £3M ($4M) (PA, 6/30).
Manny Pacquiao's camp wants a rematch, then retirement, after he "controversially lost" his WBO welterweight title to Australian Jeff Horn on Sunday. But a condition of any second bout will be that "none of the three judges, or referee Mark Nelson, can be involved in the second fight" (Sydney DAILY TELEGRAPH, 7/3).
Ironman announced Ironman 70.3 Haugesund in Norway will be the first full-distance Ironman event in the country, beginning in '18. The race will be owned and operated by WEN Events AS. The race brings the number of full-distance Ironman events in the region to three (Ironman).
FIBA Africa confirmed Tunisia and Senegal will jointly host FIBA AfroBasket 2017 from Sept. 8-16. The 16 participating teams will be divided into four groups of four in the group phase (Sept. 8-10), with Dakar hosting two groups and Tunis hosting the other two (FIBA).
