Gathering it's a sporting event (7)

I believe the answer is:

meeting

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'gathering' is the definition.
(I know that meeting is a type of social affair)

'a sporting event' is the wordplay.
'a sporting' becomes 'mee' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'event' becomes 'ting' (ting is a kind of event).
'mee'+'ting'='MEETING'

'it's' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for meeting that I've seen before include "Encountering" , "Conference" , "Formally arranged gathering" , "consultation" , "fixture" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.

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