Triathlon: Dalian Wanda Group, headed by China’s richest man, yesterday said it had bought the organiser of Ironman Triathlon races for $650 million, in a diversification push that the property developer said may involve another sports purchase by year-end. Wang Jianlin’s Beijing-based Wanda bought World Triathlon Corp from US fund Providence Equity Partners LLC for what the seller said amounted to $900 million including debt.
Cricket: Wellington’s Basin Reserve will stage its first one-day international in 10 years when New Zealand host Pakistan in the coming home summer. The 11,000-capacity ground will kick off a three-match series against Pakistan on Jan. 25 before hosting Australia in the opener of a two-test series in February.
Olympics: Japan plans to slash construction costs for a new national stadium, the centrepiece of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, by a third from the previous estimate of $2.1bn, several ruling party lawmakers and senior government officials said yesterday. The government plans to put a cap for the stadium’s construction costs at around 160 billion yen ($1.3bn), compared with the previous plan, scrapped in July amid public anger over sky-rocketing costs. The stadium will be designed to house 68,000 people, big enough for the opening and closing ceremonies.
Tennis: Caroline Wozniacki battled her way into the quarter-finals of the Connecticut Open with a hard-fought victory over qualifier Roberta Vinci. Woz-niacki prevailed 6-4 6-7 7-6 in a contest which lasted just shy of three hours. Seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska eased through with a 6-4 6-2 win over Alize Cornet, a relatively straightforward victory given the problems Cornet has given her in the past.
Swimming: Argentina has pulled out of the running to host the 2021 and 2023 World Championships. FINA will vote to decide the two host nations at a meeting in Dubai on November 8. China, Japan, Turkey and Qatar are in the running while the United Arab Emirates hope to join the race if government backing can be secured before the October 20 deadline.
Rugby World Cup: Rugby League convert Sam Burgess has been named in England’s World Cup squad. The 26-year-old completes a remarkable rise since moving from South Sydney Rabbitohs to Bath last October by being included in Stuart Lancaster’s 31-man squad. Northampton’s Luther Burrell was the centre to miss out. Ben Morgan was named as one of England’s number eights, with Nick Easter missing out, while Sale fly-half Danny Cipriani was also omitted. England play Fiji in the opening game of the tournament at Twickenham on September 18.