Serie A risks not finishing due to virus: Inter director
MILAN: The Serie A season runs the risk of not finishing if more matches are postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak, Inter Milan’s chief executive Giuseppe Marotta said on Sunday. Inter’s match at Juventus, which was to have been played later on Sunday, was one of five which were postponed by Serie A on Saturday. The games, all in regions where sporting events have been banned by the government, had been due to be played behind closed doors.
Italy has registered more than 1,100 confirmed cases of coronavirus since the contagion came to light in wealthy northern regions on Feb. 20 and at least 29 people have died. Inter’s match at home to Sampdoria was one of four which were postponed last Sunday and Marotta said a crowded fixture list meant they were running out of dates to reschedule the games. The Serie A league called an emergency meeting for Wednesday to discuss the consequences of the government measures and the rescheduling of matches. “If more matches are called off then, yes, we run that risk,” Marotta told Gazzetta dello Sport when asked if the championship might not finish.
He added that, because some matches had been postponed and others had not, the “balance of the championship has been altered. It’s a distorted tournament. You just need to think of injuries and suspensions. And there is the psychological aspect when you look at the standings.”
Third-placed Inter’s two postponements have caused them to drop eight points behind leaders Lazio who have played and won two games during the same period. Lazio’s matches—away to Genoa last Sunday and at home to Bologna on Saturday—were in regions unaffected by coronavirus. “I am worried about Inter’s game against Sassuolo next Sunday,” added Marotta.
“How do we deal with that? We can’t play behind closed doors because it would be absurd to use a measure one week that we didn’t use the week before... I can’t see a solution.”
TOKYO MARATHON RUN ONLY FOR ELITE GROUP
TOKYO: Birhanu Legese of Ethiopia won Sunday’s Tokyo Marathon, a race that was scaled back as part of Japan’s efforts to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
Legese crossed the finish line with a time of 2 hours, 4 minutes and 15 seconds, 34 seconds ahead of Belgium’s Bashir Abdi.
Sunday’s race was expected to have 38,000 participants but was limited to elite runners due to concerns over the outbreak of the virus in Japan.
The race, which doubles up as an Olympic trial for Japanese marathon runners, was limited to just over 200 participants.
SAINA WANTS LONGER QUALIFYING PHASE
NEWDELHI: Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap have urged badminton’s governing body to reconsider its decision not to extend the qualification period for the Tokyo Games despite several events being cancelled or postponed due to the coronavirus.
“It will be unfair for most of the players who are really close to qualifying for Olympics 2020,” Nehwal said on Twitter.
Nehwal’s husband Kashyap also expressed his concern. “I hope all the athletes have a fair chance to qualify for the Olympics,” Kashyap tweeted.