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Touchline • Issue 18 • 39
WORLD SPORT
NEWS ROUND UP
DUBAI LANDS 2015
WORLD AIR GAMES
The International Air Sports Federation
(FAI) has awarded its 2015 World Air
Games to the United Arab Emirates, with
the showpiece event to be held in Dubai.
The multi-discipline event will be organised by the Emirates
Aerosports Federation and will take place over a period of 12
days in December 2015. It is the only world competition that
brings together the various different air sports.
The fourth edition of the World Air Games will include powered
and glider aerobatics, aeromodelling, amateur-built and
experimental aircraft, ballooning, gyrocopters, hang gliding,
helicopters, microlights, paramotors and parachuting. The Games
head to Dubai after previous editions were held in Turkey (1997),
Spain (2001) and Italy (2009).
UAE
JAPAN TARGETS
BASEBALL AS
POTENTIAL ECONOMIC
SPUR
The Japanese government has
suggested that increasing the number of
professional baseball teams in the country from 12 to 16 could
boost the national economy.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party
put the suggestion forward as part of a set of recommendations
to boost the country’s economy. The list cited the success of
North American competition Major League Baseball, which has
almost doubled from 16 to 30 teams since the 1960s. The report
said: “Prosperous baseball teams could strengthen attachment
to regional cities and help local economies thrive.”
Baseball is one of the most popular sports in Japan and attracts
over 20 million fans to games each year, which is more than
four times the amount that attend J.League top-flight football
matches.
JAPAN
SHARM EL-SHEIKH TO
HOST SQUASHWORLD
CUP
The World Squash Federation (WSF) has
awarded the rights to host its 2014
World Cup to the Egyptian city of Sharm
el-Sheikh.
The fourth staging of the two-man, one-woman team event
will take place at Soho Square in Sharm el-Sheikh between
December 11-15.
Hosts Egypt will have the chance to defend a title they claimed
in 2011 when the tournament took place in Chennai, India.
Sharm el-Sheikh previously staged the Women’s World
Championships at the same venue in September 2010.
SOUTH AFRICA STEPS
UP BID FOR 2022
COMMONWEALTH
GAMES
The South African Sports Confederation
and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) has
called on the support of other African
nations as it seeks to bring the Commonwealth Games to the
continent for the first time in 2022.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) confirmed that
Durban and the Canadian city of Edmonton have until next
March to formalise their bids for the multi-sport event before a
decision on the host city is made in September 2015.The 2022
Commonwealth Games are regarded as a starting point for a
potential South African bid for the Olympic Games.
Commenting on the 2022 Commonwealth Games, SASCOC
president Gideon Sam said: “We believe that we just need to
carry on and if there is any honesty in the world it’s Africa’s time.
It’s been to Canada, it’s been to Australia, it’s been to England, it’s
been to Scotland, it’s been to Asia but it’s never been to Africa.
And we believe that it is our time. We have the infrastructure.
SOUTH
AFRICA
EGYPT