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SAILING TOUR STARTS BID
PROCESS FOR HOSTS
The ISAF World Match Racing Tour
(WMRT) has opened the bidding process
for cities, regions and countries from
around the globe to enter the race for the
right to host a stage of the world series.
WMRT is a professionally managed
tour currently consisting of nine events
worldwide and culminates in the crowning
of a World Champion.
The bidding process, which will
be managed by venue acquisition
consultancy Regatta International, will
see six new venues selected to join the
Tour from the 2012-2013 seasons. The
new venues will win the right to hold a
World Championship stage, each lasting
for 5 days.
Commenting on the opening of the
bidding process, WMRT CEO Jim
O’Toole said: ‘The World Match Racing
Tour is a well proven marketing platform
for destinations wishing to showcase their
facilities, infrastructure and organisational
capacities, increase their international
tourism profile and attract inward
investment.’
FIFA TO PUSH 2011
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
WITH WORLD TOUR
FIFA and the Local Organising Committee
of the Women’s World Cup 2011 in
Germany are set to embark on aworldwide
tour to promote the tournament.
FIFA and the president of the 2011
World Cup LOC, Steffi Jones, are
to head a welcome tour of the 15
countries participating in next summer’s
tournament.
The 2011 welcome tour started in Sydney
on 8th December 2010 before heading to
Europe in January.
ICC GIVES GO AHEAD TO
TEST LEAGUE FROM 2013
The International Cricket Council (ICC)
has indicated that the proposed world
Test championship is likely to go ahead
with June 2013 the likely date for the
playoffs.
The ICC chief executives’ committee
(CEC) has recommended setting up
a Test league that would use current
rankings to decide the top four teams to
playoff to crown a champion. On this basis
Australia would be struggling to qualify for
the play-offs.
Test cricket currently has a rankings
system but no tournament to determine
the top test nation. The ICC has proposed
a quadrennial tournament with the four
best-performing nations to meet in semi-
finals before playing off for the world title
in a bid to boost flagging interest in the
longest form of the sport.
The ICC board also agreed to a one-day
league, the first running from 2011-14
and separate from the Cricket World Cup,
culminating in an ODI league champion.
The board also approved the
recommendations for the World Cup to be
reduced from the current 14 participating
teams to 10 teams, for the 2015 event in
Australia and New Zealand. Meanwhile,
the ICC World Twenty20 is set to be
expanded from 12 to 16 teams for the
2012 competition in Sri Lanka.
SEVEN CYCLISTS
KILLED IN ITALY IN
COLLISION WITH CAR
Italian police have arrested a man after
his car ploughed into a group of cyclists,
killing seven of them. The driver was
overtaking on a two-lane road near
Lamezia Terme in the southern region
of Calabria when he hit the oncoming
cyclists, officials said.
Four people were also injured in the
collision, including the driver, who is a
Moroccan national. He is being held under
police guard in hospital on suspicion of
manslaughter, according to the Ansa
news agency.
Police said the arrested man had been
driving without a licence, having had
it withdrawn seven months ago for
dangerous driving, and that blood tests
showed he had been driving under the
influence of marijuana.
Ansa reported that the dead men were
members of a local amateur racing team
affiliated with a gym in Lamezia Terme.
They were aged between 35 and 58.