16th March, 2020
Coronavirus pandemic has had a grave effect on major sports events around the world, making also doubtful the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Here is a list of the affected sports:
OLYMPICS
** The Tokyo 2020 Olympics torch lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia was held without spectators.
** The Olympic Games flame handover in Athens will be done in an empty stadium on March 19.
** The Hellenic Olympic Committee suspended the remainder of the torch relay through Greece to avoid attracting crowds.
OLYMPIC TRIALS
** U.S. trials for wrestling (April 4-5) were postponed.
** U.S. Rowing postponed its team trials.
** U.S. diving trials (April 3-5) were postponed. All USA Diving events postponed for next 30 days.
NORTH AMERICA
** The NBA suspended its season.
** The NHL suspended its season.
** The MLB will delay its 2020 season’s opening day of March 26 by at least two weeks.
SOCCER
** All elite soccer matches in England, including the Premier League, Football League and Women’s Super League, were suspended until April 4.
** The German Football League called off matches scheduled for March 13-15 in the Bundesliga and second-tier Bundesliga 2. They recommended both leagues be suspended until April 2.
** UEFA postponed all Champions League and Europa League matches due to take place this week.
** The Confederation of African Football postponed two rounds of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers (March 25-31).
** CONCACAF suspended all competitions, including the Champions League and men’s Olympic qualifiers.
** The top two tiers of French football — Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 — were suspended.
** All matches in Spain’s top two divisions were postponed for two weeks.
** England’s friendly internationals against Italy and Denmark at Wembley (March 27 and 31) will not take place.
** U.S. Major League Soccer suspended its season.
** All soccer in the Netherlands was suspended until the end of March.
** FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation agreed to postpone Asian World Cup qualifying matches in March and June.
** FIFA postponed South American qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup between March 23-31.
** Spain’s Copa del Rey final between Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad (April 18) was postponed.
** New seasons in the Chinese, Japanese and South Korean leagues were postponed.
** Australia’s A-League banned fans from matches for the rest of the season.
** A four-team event in Doha featuring Croatia, Portugal, Belgium and Switzerland (March 26-30) was canceled.
** Tickets are not being sold for the Euro 2020 qualifying playoff semi-finals between Bulgaria and Hungary, and Bosnia and Northern Ireland.
** Asian Champions League: Matches involving Chinese clubs Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG were postponed. The start of the knockout rounds was moved back to September.
** The Mexican soccer league said all matches in the top-flight, second tier and women’s league were suspended until further notice.
** The Brazilian football Confederation suspended all national competitions until further notice.
ATHLETICS
** The World Athletics Indoor Championships (Nanjing, March 13-15) were postponed. They will be held in the same city from March 19-21, 2021.
** The Paris and Barcelona marathons were postponed.
** The London marathon (April 26), was postponed to Oct. 4.
BASEBALL
** The final qualification tournament in Taiwan for the Olympics was put back from April to June 17-21, while the March 22-26 qualification event in Arizona was postponed here
** Japan’s professional league postponed the start of the season.
BASKETBALL
** Euroleague Basketball suspended all 2019-20 EuroLeague, EuroCup and Euroleague Next Generation Tournament games.
CRICKET
** The last two games of Australia’s three-match one-day international series against New Zealand in Sydney and Hobart were canceled.
** Australia and New Zealand’s limited overs tours were postponed.
** The start of the Indian Premier League T20 tournament (March 29) was postponed until April 15.
** The boards of India and South Africa agreed to reschedule a three-match ODI series to a later date. The first match on March 12 was washed out.
** England’s two-match test series in Sri Lanka scheduled to start on March 19 was postponed.
** The final leg of Bangladesh’s tour of Pakistan, which involved a test match and an ODI in April, was postponed.
CYCLING
** Cycling’s governing body plans to retroactively use March 3 as the cut-off point for Olympic qualification in mountain bike, BMX Racing and BMX Freestyle.
** The final two stages of the UAE Tour were canceled after two Italian participants tested positive.
** The Paris-Nice cycling race ended a day early after the eighth stage into Nice was canceled.
** The Giro d’Italia, scheduled to start in Budapest, Hungary on May 9, was postponed.
GOLF
** The year’s first major, the Masters, was postponed from April 9-12 to “some later date”.
** The Players Championship in Florida was canceled after the first round. The next three PGA events were also scrapped.
** The Honda LPGA Thailand event and the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore were canceled.
** The next three LPGA Tour events scheduled for Arizona and California were postponed.
** The Indian Open, the Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur and the China Open were postponed.
GYMNASTICS
** The All-Around World Cup (Stuttgart; March 20-22) was canceled.
ICE HOCKEY
** The Swedish Ice Hockey Association ended the 2019-20 season with no playoffs, no champions, no promotion and no relegation.
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JUDO
** The International Judo Federation canceled all Olympic qualification events until the end of April.
MOTORSPORT
** Formula One canceled the Australian Grand Prix and postponed the next three races in Bahrain, Vietnam and China.
They hope to start the season in Europe at the end of May, putting the Dutch and Spanish races currently scheduled for May 3 and 10 in Zandvoort and Barcelona in doubt.
** Four rounds of the MotoGP season in Qatar, Thailand, Texas and Argentina will not go ahead as scheduled.
** NASCAR races at the Atlanta Motor Speedway (March 15) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (March 22) were postponed.
** Round four of the World Rally Championship in Argentina (April 23-26) was postponed.
** The World Rallycross Championship opener in Catalunya-Barcelona (April 18-19) was postponed.
** Rally Mexico was cut short after the second leg.
ROWING
** Two World Rowing Cups and the European Olympic Qualification Regatta, all scheduled for Italy, were canceled here
RUGBY
** Four Six Nations matches were postponed.
** The Singapore and Hong Kong legs of the World Rugby Sevens Series were postponed from April to October.
** Rugby Europe announced a suspension of all its matches and tournaments from March 13-April 15.
** France’s rugby federation suspended all its competitions.
** The Premiership Rugby Cup final on Sunday (March 15) was postponed.
** Super Rugby has suspended its season.
** Rugby Australia locked down its headquarters to be disinfected after two members of the national rugby sevens program were tested for the virus.
SAILING
** SailGP canceled its San Francisco event (May 2-3).
TENNIS
** The ATP suspended its professional men’s tennis tour for six weeks after the Miami Open (March 23-April 5) was canceled.
** The Fed Cup finals (Budapest; April 14-19) were postponed.
** The BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells was canceled.
** The WTA said its events in Mexico and Colombia in March and April would not be held. The Xi’an Open and Kunming Open had already been canceled.
TRIATHLON
** The International Triathlon Union suspended all activity until April 30.
PENTATHLON
** The rest of the modern pentathlon World Cup season was postponed until May.
WINTER SPORTS
** The International Ski Federation canceled the final races of the men’s Alpine skiing World Cup.
** The World Cup finals in Cortina were canceled along with the last three women’s races in Are.
** The women’s world ice hockey championships in Canada were canceled.
** The speed skating world championships in Seoul were postponed until at least October.
** The March 16-22 world figure skating championships in Montreal were canceled.
BOXING
** A European qualifying event in London for the Olympics will be closed to spectators from March 16.
*Reuters