‘PLAYERS TREATED LIKE GUINEA PIGS’

LONDON: Former Manchester United star Wayne Rooney claims the British government and football authorities have treated players like “guinea pigs” during the coronavirus crisis. While the rest of European football was shutting down due to the growing threat of the global pandemic, Rooney is angry it took several days for the Premier League and Football League to postpone their matches until April 3. It was only when Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-odoi tested positive for the virus on Friday that football’s UK governing bodies called a temporary halt to the season. Rooney, currently playing for second tier Derby, felt they should have acted quicker and the former England captain said he would “never forgive” the authorities if his family fell ill as a result. “Why did we wait until Friday? Why did it take Mikel Arteta to get ill for the game in England to do the right thing?” Rooney wrote in the Sunday Times. “For players, staff and their families it has been a worrying week - one in which you felt a lack of leadership from the government and from the FA and Premier League. After the emergency meeting, at last the right decision was made - until then it almost felt like footballers in England were being treated like guinea pigs.

“If any of my family get infected through me because I’ve had to play when it’s not safe I’d have to think hard about ever playing again.”

CA cancels final round of Sheffield Shield

MELBOURNE: Australia’s top first class league Sheffield Shield could be declared vacant for the first time since the second World War after the cricket board cancelled the final round of the competition due to the rising threat of COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report. Cricket Australia, however, deferred a decision on the final, scheduled to be played from March 27, given the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic situation, according to cricket.com.au. CA chief executive Kevin Roberts said the Shield final round had been cancelled “in an effort to reduce travel” and he hoped it would “contribute to the global effort to slow, and eventually stop, the spread of coronavirus”.

“At times like this, cricket must take a back seat for the greater good,” he said.

Australian rugby league to press on with new season

SYDNEY: Australia’s new rugby league season will continue for the time being but with games behind closed doors, officials said Sunday, despite the growing coronavirus pandemic. There would be massive financial implications if one of the country’s most popular sports was forced to shut down a season that only began this weekend. Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys called it “one of the

toughest challenges for us to stay viable in the history of the game”.

“It could have catastrophic effects on us moving forward. Our money will only last so long, and once it’s extinguished we are in big trouble,” he said Sunday.

“An Australia without rugby league is not Australia,” added V’landys.

Serie A doctors warn against return to training

ROME: Serie A doctors have issued a joint warning advising against a return to club training after four more players on Saturday tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the tally in the Italian top flight to 11. Fiorentina’s Patrick Cutrone and

German Pezzella contracted the virus, the Tuscan club said, with Sampdoria’s Fabio Depaoli and Bartosz Bereszynski later confirming they had also been diagnosed.

Serie A doctors said they had “strong concerns” and “unanimously advise not to resume training until a clear improvement” in the situation.

Nba-affected player Gobert pledges $500,000 to relief effort

Frenchman Rudy Gobert, the first NBA player known to have tested positive for the coronavirus, is donating more than $500,000 to support both the employee relief fund at the Utah Jazz’s home arena

and Covid-19-related social services relief in Utah, Oklahoma City and the French health care system, the NBA team said on Saturday.

“These donations are a small token that reflect my appreciation and support for all those impacted and are the first of many steps I will take to try and make a positive difference, while continuing to learn more about COVID-19 and educate others,” Gobert said in a statement released by the Jazz.

The pledged donation will provide $200,000 in aid to part-time employees at the Jazz home arena who are not able to work due to the postponement of NBA games and other entertainment events.

No champions - Sweden ends ice hockey season

STOCKHOLM: The Swedish Ice Hockey Association (SIHA) is ending the 2019-20 season immediately due to the spread of the coronavirus, with no playoffs, no champions, no promotion and no relegation, it said on Sunday. Some matches were played last week with no fans in attendance while others were postponed, but after discussions with stakeholders the association announced the season was over.

“The coronavirus has created great concern and uncertainty throughout society. For us, the most important thing right now is to do what we can for society in general, but also to put the health of players, leaders, officials and the public first,” Anders Larsson, chairman of the SIHA, said in a statement.

Reaction over-exaggerated: Ferguson after virus scare

AUCKLAND: The way things played out after he reported a sore throat, leading to COVID-19 tests and isolation in his hotel room, were a “bit over-exaggerated”, feels New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson. The 28-year-old pacer was placed in isolation immediately after Friday’s first ODI against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground “No. Probably a bit over-exaggerated as to how I was. I just sort of had very, very mild cold symptoms and the procedures were as they were,” he said.