After China pullout, now Korea doubtful for shooting World Cup
NEWDELHI: The national shooting federation of South Korea has asked its Indian counterpart to make its position clear on whether athletes from the East Asian country would be allowed at next month’s ISSF World Cup here.
In a letter to the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh, Korea Shooting Federation secretary general Yongjae Lee has said their shooters are keen to participate in the event from March 15 to 26. “Currently, most of the Korean athletes are wishing to acquire minimum qualification standard at the ISSF World Cup —New Delhi. However, there is a great deal of concern and worries among athletes and officials that they might not be able to participate. Kindly state your position regarding COVID-19,” Lee wrote in the letter.
He added that the tickets for the athletes and officials have already been booked and their visa fees have also been paid. The letter was prompted by a February 26 directive from the Indian Embassy there in which it was stated that people coming to India from Korea, Iran and Italy —all severely affected by the virus— after February 10 “may be quarantined for 14 days on arrival.”
BAHRAIN PULL OUT
South Korea has more than 1700 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 13 people have so far died because of the disease.
Meanwhile, Bahrain has become the latest country to pull out of the World Cup. China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, North Korea and Turkmenistan have already pulled out of the tournament due to the virus.
While the NRAI has not yet made its position clear officially, a source told PTI that the shooting body is “in touch with the external affairs ministry and the ISSF” on how to go about it.
ROWING QUALIFIERS MOVED FROM ASIA
MUMBAI: The world rowing federation (FISA) has cancelled the Asia and Oceania continental Olympic and Paralympic qualifiers that was scheduled to be held in Chungju, South Korea, from April 27-30 due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The executive committee of the FISA took the decision on Thursday after evaluating the situation in the region and after noting “significant difficulties which would affect the staging of the events in Asia” due to the spread of the virus and the resultant travel restrictions imposed by many nations in the affected regions.
“The FISA / Olympic Solidarity training camp, planned to take place before the regatta in Chungju, is now also cancelled. Discussions on arranging an alternative training camp or camps are currently taking place with the relevant stakeholders, and will be announced when and if possible,” FISA said in a statement on its website.
The Asia and Oceania Olympic qualifiers have now been made part of the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland from May 17-19.
Competitions in men’s and women’s single sculls and lightweight men and women double sculls will be part of the Lucerne schedule. Similarly, the Paralympics qualification programme has been added to the final Paralympic Qualification Regatta at Gavirate, Italy from May 8-10.
Five Indian rowers, two support staff, two coaches and an attendant for para rowers were scheduled to compete in the Asian Olympic qualifiers, which offers Tokyo Olympics berths in men’s and women’s singles sculls, lightweight men’s and women’s double sculls and para rowing men’s and women’s singles sculls.
In all, 263 men and an equal number of women are eligible to participate in the Olympics with each National Olympic Committee (NOC) eligible to send a maximum of 24 qualified rowers.
“The number of qualification places attributed to the Asia and Oceania Qualification Regattas will not change and will be allocated based on results in the respective Final Qualification Regatta for the relevant boat classes to the eligible NFS/ NOCS,” said the FISA statement.
BADMINTON HIT TOO
KUALALUMPUR:THE BWF German Open will not go ahead next week and the Polish Open has been postponed too, officials said as two more Olympic qualifying events fell victim to the coronavirus. It hasn’t yet been decided whether the German Open, originally scheduled for March 3-8, will be cancelled entirely, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) said late on Wednesday.
New dates are being sought for the Polish Open, which was meant to take place on March 26-29, but it will not now fall in the qualifying period for the Tokyo Olympics.