Virus disruption hits football, women's golf
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SYDNEY • The outbreak of the coronavirus caused further disruption to the international sporting calendar yesterday, with the LPGA Tour cancelling a golf event in China and Olympic football qualifiers in Australia having to be shuffled.
More than 200 people in China have died from the flu-like virus with over 9,000 affected after it emerged late last year in Wuhan in the central Hubei province. The World Health Organisation on Thursday declared the outbreak a public health emergency.
The United States-based LPGA said its Blue Bay tournament due to be held in Hainan from March 5-8 has been cancelled.
"Given the current health concerns and significant travel restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus in China, the LPGA along with our partners in China have made the decision to cancel the 2020 Blue Bay LPGA," the Tour said in a statement.
The four-team women's football tournament involving China, Australia, Taiwan and Thailand was moved from Wuhan - the centre of the virus outbreak - and hastily rearranged to be held in Australia by the Asian Football Confederation.
Organisers were forced to change their match schedule after China's team, who arrived in Australia on Wednesday, were placed in quarantine in Brisbane until after next Wednesday.
None of the players has tested positive for the virus, according to the Chinese Football Association (CFA).
They were originally scheduled to play their first game against Thailand on Tuesday but that has been postponed to Thursday. An additional match day of Feb 12, when China play Australia, has been scheduled, Football Federation Australia (FFA) said yesterday.
"The health of everyone involved, from players and officials to the fans and contractors, remains the number one priority," said FFA chief executive James Johnson.
A day earlier, China announced the suspension of all domestic football and postponed indefinitely the top-flight Chinese Super League (CSL) season. The latest CSL campaign had been due to kick off on Feb 22, but was shelved along with "all types of football matches" in order to "carry out prevention and control of the pneumonia epidemic," said a CFA statement.
Several international sports events have also been affected by the outbreak. The World Indoor Athletics Championships, which were due to be held in Nanjing from March 13-15, have been postponed until next year.
Qualifying tournaments in boxing and basketball for this year's Tokyo Olympics were moved from China, while World Cup skiing races - the first test events for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics - were cancelled.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
