Golfers given virus reprieve

ITALIANS Lorenzo Gagli and Edoardo Molinari were given a last-minute reprieve to play in the Oman Open after Gagli passed a test for coronavirus.

The pair, who had shared a hotel room, were withdrawn from the European Tour event and placed in isolation after world No427 Gagli told officials he had suffered from flu last week.

But tests came back negative at midday. Molinari – the older brother of 2018 Open champion Francesco – was told at 12.15pm and rushed to the course from his hotel. Gagli was told at 12.30pm he would also be allowed to play – and the two teed off at 1.30pm after everyone else in the 146-man field.

Darkness stopped them completing the first round, with Gagli on three under par – three behind the leader, fellow Italian Guido Migliozzi, who shot a 66.

Molinari, a three-time European Tour winner, is on two under and wrote on Twitter: “Still shocked by what happened in the past 36 hours. I am fine and so is Lorenzo. It was scary because it is not something that was in our hands.”

Gagli was bemused. “I had the fever until last Friday,” he said. “I told the European Tour doctor because I had to get a yellow fever

SICK JOKE: Molinari and Gagli laugh it off in Oman

vaccine to play a tournament in India in three weeks. I travelled with other players and we ate together. If there was a risk of contagion they would have to isolate dozens of golfers and cancel the tournament.”

THE sports minister of Victoria has said the Australian F1 Grand Prix will go ahead on March 15 despite the coronavirus outbreak.

WATFORD’S former Italian head coach Giuseppe Sannino has been ❑

suspended by his club Honved in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. The Hungarian side announced they had taken the precaution because of the spread of virus in his homeland, where there have been 400 cases. Sannino’s Italian assistant, Alessandro Recenti, has also been suspended.

Honved have put Istvan Pisont in temporary charge, and said: : “They could have come in contact with people living in areas affected by the coronavirus.”

BRITISH hammer thrower Mark Dry has been banned for four years after falsely claiming he had “gone fishing” to explain why he missed a doping test.

His fake account was deemed intended to ‘subvert the doping control process’ and classed as ‘tampering’ under the rules.