Coronavirus hits sporting events across the world
A day after it was announced that the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League will take place behind closed doors, the Board of Control and Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday suspended the start of this year’s IPL from March 29 to April 15 and also called off the remaining two India-South Africa ODIs in Lucknow and Kolkata owing to the COVID-19 threat after the visiting players “expressed unwillingness” to continue because of the rising positive cases in the host country.
“The BCCI has decided to suspend the IPL 2020 till 15th April 2020, as a precautionary measure against the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) situation,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.
This came hours after the Delhi Government suspended all sporting activities in the national Capital due to the ever-growing health crisis which has already led to the postponement of ISSF World Cup for Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun (March 15-25), India Open Golf (March 19-22) and no fans engagement in India Open Badminton (March 24-29).
The BCCI statement made it clear that IPL remains “suspended” and “not postponed” which means that there is no clarity on whether the event will start on April 15.
In case IPL starts on April 15, it will be a 40-day competition as the ICC Future Tours Programme (FTP) of other international teams will make it virtually impossible to stretch it beyond that point.
Also, there is a possibility that the tournament will feature more double-headers and at least five optional venues are being kept ready after State Governments of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi refused permission for the games.
As for the bilateral series against Proteas, senior BCCI official said, “The South African team was unwilling to take any further part in the series due to the rising number of positive cases in India. The players seemed to be in panic mode and wanted to go back home at the earliest.”
On Friday, the final day of the Ranji Trophy between Saurashtra and Bengal, was played in an empty stadium.
Apart from cricket, country’s top-flight football tournament — the Indian Super League Season 6 final in Margao on Saturday, will take place without spectators and also all the remaining 28 matches of the I-League will be played in empty stadiums. The Blue Tigers FIFA World Cup Qualifier match against Qatar (26 March in Bhubaneswar) and Afghanistan (9 June in Kolkata) has been postponed.
Globally, the English Premier League, German Bundesliga and European football’s showpiece event, the Champions League, has also been put on hold. England’s cricket tour of Sri Lanka fell victim to the virus and the French Football League announced that all league 1 and league 2 games would be on hold until further notice.
Formula One’s Australian Grand Prix followed by Bahrain & Vietnam and The Players Championship, one of golf’s most prestigious events, the men’s tennis tour, NBA basketball, Major League Baseball were among other events scrapped.
There can be more bad news as European football chiefs will meet next week to consider whether to postpone Euro 2020, due to start in June, and this year’s other major international sporting events along with the Olympics.
Tokyo Olympics organisers, the Japanese Government and the International Olympic Committee have been adamant the Games will go ahead as planned despite the global panic.