Sport-by-sport guide of the sports and events impacted by the Coronavirus outbreak

Publish Date
Monday, 16 March 2020, 3:38PM
Photosport

Photosport

The coronavirus is causing havoc in the sporting world, with the majority of events cancelled or postponed.

Here is a sport-by-sport guide of the sports and events impacted.

Athletics

The New York City Half Marathon has been cancelled, as has the Rome Marathon. The Boston Marathon has been postponed until September, while the Paris Marathon and Barcelona Marathon have been postponed until October.

Baseball

Major League Baseball postponed the start of its regular season, scheduled to begin on March 26, by at least two weeks, while all remaining spring training games have been cancelled.

Basketball

The NBA has been suspended for "at least 30 days" after two players from the Utah Jazz — Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell — tested positive for the coronavirus. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said it was possible the season would be cancelled.

The top European competition, the Euroleague, suspended games until April 11, while the Australian NBL finals series is continuing behind closed doors. The New Zealand NBL had made it mandatory for all players and team management arriving from overseas to self-isolate for 14 days, a few hours before the Government introduced the measure.

Cricket

The Black Caps' final two one-dayers in Australia have been cancelled, as has Australia's Twenty20 series in New Zealand which was scheduled for later this month.

The start of the Indian Premier League season has been postponed from March 30 to April 15, while the ODI series between India and South Africa, and England's tour of Sri Lanka have both been cancelled.

Cycling

The famous Paris-Nice race went ahead despite teams pulling out, and while they cancelled one stage, the race finished overnight Sunday. However, that will likely be the last race for a significant period, with the first Grand Tour — the Giro d'Italia — postponed, and all major races worldwide postponed until April.

Football

The English Premier League and English Football League have been suspended until April 3 at the earliest. The decision was confirmed Saturday after Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Chelsea player Callum Hudson-Odoi tested positive for the virus.

The Champions League and Europa League have been suspended indefinitely, while the top leagues in France, Italy, Spain and Germany have also been suspended. Australia's A-League and New Zealand's ISPS Handa Premiership are going ahead, although Saturday's Government announcement put the participation of the Phoenix in doubt.

The A-League's status will be reviewed today. The All Whites' international matches against Oman and Bahrain, and the Football Ferns' match against Japan were cancelled this week.

Golf

The PGA Tour have cancelled all events until April 5, while on Saturday it was announced the Masters would be postponed indefinitely. The LPGA Tour suspended their next three events, until April 5, with the intention to reschedule them later in 2020, while the European Tour has postponed tournaments until April 26.

Hockey

All remaining games this month in the men's and women's FIH Pro League have been postponed. Both Black Sticks teams had been scheduled to play in the Netherlands and Germany.

Ice Hockey

The NHL has paused its season, effective immediately.

League

The NRL will go ahead as planned this week, but at this stage will move behind closed doors — at least in Australia — from round two, while the Warriors will have to play their games in Australia.

Despite Leeds pulling out of their match against Catalans after one of their players showed symptoms of the coronavirus, the European Super League has continued, with Salford beating Wigan on Saturday in front of a packed crowd.

Motorsport

Formula One cancelled its season-opening race in Melbourne, while races in China, Bahrain and Vietnam were postponed, meaning the season won't begin until the end of May at the earliest.

Nascar postponed its next two race weekends, while IndyCar suspended races through April. The second round of Supercars was cancelled, with hopes to reschedule another event later in the year.

Netball

The ANZ Premiership is set to proceed as usual, with the first games of New Zealand's domestic competition beginning yesterday afternoon. The Steel host the Magic in Dunedin tonight.

Olympics

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has insisted the Tokyo Games are on schedule to begin in late July, despite talks of postponement or cancellation.

Rugby

All Six Nations games this weekend were postponed, while Super Rugby was also suspended for the foreseeable future, with Sanzaar yesterday announcing the decision after the New Zealand travel restrictions were revealed.

Sailing

The America's Cup World Series will not start next month, with the event scheduled off the Italian island of Sardinia cancelled.

Tennis

The ATP Tour has suspended all events until April 27, while WTA Tour events will not be held until at least April 6. The Fed Cup finals, scheduled to be held in Hungary in April, have also been postponed.

Triathlon

The International Triathlon Union has suspended all of its competitions and activities until to the end of April. Major events postponed include the second world series event in Bermuda on April 18-19, and four World Cups in the United States, New Plymouth, Brazil and Mexico.

UFC

The UFC Fight Night event in Brazil went ahead yesterday, with no fans. The next two UFC events in London and Las Vegas are scheduled to go ahead.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission

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