Sports events hit by coronavirus epidemic

LONDON: Here is a list of international sports events hit by the outbreak of a coronavirus:

OLYMPICS

• Crowds will be smaller and receptions have been scrapped at the Tokyo 2020 torch-lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia, Greece next week. The dress rehearsal the day before will be held without spectators. The International Olympic Committee gave further unequivocal backing to this year’s Games in July and August, urging athletes to prepare “full steam” despite the coronavirus threat.

ATHLETICS

• The World Athletics Indoor Championships, scheduled for Nanjing from March 13-15, were postponed until next year. World Athletics is working with organisers on a date to host the biennial event in 2021.

• The Paris marathon has been postponed from April 5 to Oct. 18 due to the virus outbreak in France.

• The Barcelona marathon scheduled for March 15 has been postponed until Oct. 25.

SOCCER

• Italy has ordered all major sporting events, including top-flight Serie A soccer games, to be played without fans for a month in a bid to curb Europe’s worst outbreak of the virus.

• Ten Serie A matches have been postponed as well as two Coppa Italia semifinal ties (Juventus v AC Milan and Napoli v Inter Milan).

• Players in England’s Premier League will forgo traditional pre-match handshakes between opponents as a measure to prevent the further spread of the virus, the league said.

• Players from Danish Super League clubs Brondby and Lyngby are in isolation after they met and hugged former Denmark international Thomas Kahlenberg, who has since tested positive for the virus.

• The Swiss soccer league has been put on hold until at least March 23 after the clubs rejected the possibility of playing matches without any spectators attending.

• Asian Champions League matches involving Chinese clubs Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG were postponed.

• China’s 2022 World Cup qualifiers against Maldives at home and Guam away in March will be moved to Buriram, Thailand. The games will be played without any spectators attending.

FIFA is also considering postponing the Asian World Cup qualifiers due to be played this month. More than two dozen matches are scheduled to be played around the continent over two match days on March 26 and 31.

• The Chinese Football Association said domestic games at all levels would be postponed.

• South Korea’s professional soccer league has postponed the start of its new season. The league also asked its four teams in the AFC Champions League to hold games without any spectators attending.

• Japan’s J League postponed seven Levian Cup matches scheduled for Feb. 26 and all domestic games until the first half of March.

• The French Ligue 1 game between RC Strasbourg and champions Paris St Germain scheduled for March 7 was postponed.

FORMULA ONE

• The Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai set for April 19 has been postponed by the governing body FIA and Formula One. The authorities will consider alternative dates later in the year.

• Melbourne’s major events chief Martin Pakula is confident the Australian Grand Prix will go ahead as scheduled on March 15, but said he could offer no firm guarantees because of the dynamic nature of the epidemic.

MOTOGP

• The opening two rounds of the season, in Qatar (March 8) and Thailand (March 22), will not go ahead as scheduled.

RUGBY

• The Irish Rugby Football Union has postponed the country’s Six Nations fixture against Italy due to the virus outbreak in northern Italy. The game was scheduled to take place in Dublin on March 7.

• England’s final Six Nations match against Italy in Rome next week, which had been due to be played without fans present after an Italian government ruling, has been postponed.

• The women’s Six Nations game between Scotland and France scheduled for March 7 in Glasgow was postponed after a home player tested positive for coronavirus.

TENNIS

• China forfeited a Davis Cup tie because its men’s team was unable to travel to Romania for the March 6-7 playoff.

• he WTA cancelled the Xi’an Open (April 13-19) and Kunming Open (April 27-May 3) in China. The governing body of women’s tennis said it would monitor the situation with several events scheduled to take place in the country later this season.

• Two Davis Cup qualifiers — Italy v South Korea in Cagliari and Japan v Ecuador in Miki — will be played without any spectators in attendance.

TABLE TENNIS

• The world championships to be held in Busan, South Korea, from March 22-29 have been pushed back provisionally to June 21-28.

SPEED SKATING

• The International Skating Union postponed the March 13-15 short track speed skating world championships in Seoul, South Korea, and the event will not