SINGAPORE - Due to the coronavirus outbreak, One Championship's King of the Jungle event, which is scheduled for next Friday (Feb 28) at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, will now be held behind closed doors.
One's chief executive and chairman Chatri Sityodtong announced this on Facebook on Monday (Feb 17) night and added: "Let us unite as a country and let us show strength as a continent to conquer this coronavirus."
The fights will be broadcast live on various platforms while full refunds will be offered to those have have already purchased tickets.
Stamp Fairtex headlines the show and will be defending her One atomweight kickboxing world title against Janet Todd.
The co-main event will see One strawweight kickboxing world champion Sam-A Gaiyanghadao take on Australian Rocky Ogden for the inaugural One strawweight muay thai world championship.
Singaporeans Amir Khan and Tiffany Teo will also be in action in the lightweight and strawweight divisions respectively. Amir will take on Japan's Kimihiro Eto, while Teo faces Japan's Ayaka Miura.
This is the second event by One affected by the ongoing outbreak. Its April 11 event in Chongqing, China, has now been moved to April 10 in Jakarta.
The epidemic, which originated in Wuhan, China, has more than 70,000 cases worldwide and killed more than 1,800 people.
In Singapore, there have been 77 confirmed cases, with four in critical condition while 24 people have been discharged.
A plethora of sports events locally and internationally has been either cancelled or postponed in recent weeks.
On Monday, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) said last season's Singapore Premier League champions Brunei DPMM will skip Saturday's (Feb 22) Community Shield clash against Tampines Rovers because of its "precautionary travel restrictions in light the current Covid-19 situation".
It issued an update on Tuesday that the match will proceed as planned at 6pm at Jalan Besar Stadium with the Stags - last season's runners-up - facing the third-placed side Hougang United instead.
Fans can buy tickets from Wednesday at http://www.fas.org.sg/tickets/ or at the stadium on match day from 3pm. The FAS reminded them that mandatory temperature checks will be done before entry as part of its precautionary measures and protocols for the public.
Other marque events in the Republic like the HSBC Women's World Championship golf tournament and Singapore Rugby Sevens have been dropped and delayed respectively due to the coronavirus.
The March 1 Tokyo Marathon, which originally had 38,000 participants, has been restricted to 200, comprising only elite runners and wheelchair athletes.
