Coronavirus continues to affect sports world
Cancellations and postponements mount in California and around the world.
The public will be barred from attending the Olympic flame lighting ceremony in Greece.
As part of a national effort to contain the coronavirus outbreak, officials in Greece have barred spectators from the traditional lighting of the Olympic torch, the start of festivities leading to the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.
The ceremony, scheduled for Thursday in ancient Olympia, usually draws thousands of spectators. This time, only a limited number of Japanese organizers and International Olympic Committee representatives will be on hand.
“Tokyo 2020 is grateful for the efforts of all parties involved to ensure that the ceremony will take place while taking into consideration the latest countermeasures by the Hellenic government against COVID-19,” organizers said.
Greece recently barred fans from sporting events. As of this past weekend, reported cases in Greece had risen to more than 70. It remains to be seen whether officials will allow fans to attend next week’s handover ceremony, in which the flame is transferred to Japanese organizers.
The coronavirus outbreak impacted other sports Monday:
Figure skating: Officials in the Canadian province of Quebec are expected to decide in the next few days whether they will allow the world figure skating championships to be held as scheduled in Montreal from March 16-22 or whether health concerns merit postponing or canceling the competition. The event, which brings together the world’s top men, women, pairs and ice dance duos, is scheduled to take place at the Bell Centre.
The health minister of Quebec, Danielle McCann, told the Canadian Press that provincial public health and public security officials are involved in the analysis of the figure skating event, with input from the Public Health Agency of Canada. Cancellation has not been ruled out.
High school basketball: San Francisco Archbishop Riordan, a private school scheduled to play Concord De La Salle in the Northern California Division I regional boys’ basketball semifinals Monday night, withdrew from the tournament for safety reasons because of coronavirus concerns, the CIF confirmed. Riordan held no classes Monday after a parent of a student tested positive for coronavirus.
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee: The 2020 Team USA media summit, which was scheduled to take place at the InterContinental in downtown Los Angeles next week, has been canceled.
Italian sports leagues: All sports ground to a halt in Italy when Premier Giuseppe Conte announced that games and travel will be banned nationwide.
Baseball: The Japanese pro league, Nippon Professional Baseball, postponed the start of its regular season, originally scheduled for March 20, to an undetermined date. Also, the South Korean league (KBO) announced it is postponing opening day, hoping to start sometime in April.
Soccer: World Cup qualifying games in Asia were formally postponed until at least September, FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation said, but matches could still be held on schedule if relevant parties agree.
Staff writers David Wharton, Helene Elliott, Bill Shaikin and Eric Sondheimer contributed to this report.