Sports world gets to grips with coronavirus shutdown

TENNIS: The women's professional tennis tour has suspended all competition until May 2 because of the coronavirus outbreak. The WTA says it is calling off clay-court tournaments in Stuttgart, Istanbul and Prague, adding those to a list of events previously cancelled. Each of those three tournaments was scheduled to begin in April. The tour says a decision will be made "in the week ahead" about the rest of the European clay-court circuit. The next Grand Slam tournament is the French Open, which is scheduled to begin in Paris on May 24.

CRICKET: After Chennai Super Kings, now Royal Challengers Bangalore have decided to indefinitely postponed their training camp which was set to get under way from March 21. Taking to Twitter, RCB wrote: “Keeping in mind the health and safety of everyone involved, the RCB Training Camp scheduled to start on the 21st of March has been deferred until further notice. We request everyone to follow the guidelines provided by the Health Ministry and stay safe.”

CRICKET: Multan Sultans finished on top of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) table will now take on fourth placed Peshawar Zalmi in the first semi-final on Tuesday, while second placed Karachi Kings meet Lahore Qalandars in the second semi-final. Both the matches will be held at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The final four were decided after the Quetta Gladiators match against Karachi on Sunday night at the National Stadium in Karachi. Despite defending champions Quetta defeating Karachi by five wickets, they could not clinch a place among the last four.

McLaren says the team member who tested positive for coronavirus at the Australian Grand Prix ``is recovering well'' and that his ``symptoms have gone.'' The British team pulled out of the season-opening Formula One race on Thursday because of the positive test. The race was canceled on Friday. Fourteen members of the team were also placed in quarantine for 14 days after coming into close contact with the person who tested positive for the virus. McLaren chief executive Zak Brown says they are in ``good spirits.'' McLaren says the rest of the team has returned to Britain but will not go to the team's headquarters for two weeks as a precaution. With the first four races postponed, the F1 season will not resume until May at the earliest.

OLYMPICS: The Greek Olympic committee says the Olympic flame handover ceremony for the Tokyo Games will take place without spectators in an effort to contain the coronavirus outbreak.The committee cancelled the remainder of the Olympic torch relay last week after crowds gathered in southern Greece to watch part of the torch relay in Sparta.

CRICKET: Another international cricket series has succumbed to the pandemic as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been forced to postpone the upcoming ODI and the Test match against Bangladesh. The Bangladesh team was due to arrive in Karachi on March 29 to play an ODI on April 1 and the second ICC World Test Championship Test from April 5-9. “The Pakistan and Bangladesh cricket boards have decided to postpone the upcoming One-Day International and Test in Karachi for a later date,” said PCB in a statement on Monday.

FOOTBALL: Most Chinese Super League (CSL) clubs fled abroad when the deadly coronavirus hit the country but they are now rushing back again as it takes hold elsewhere. Wuhan Zall, from the city at the epicentre of the outbreak, had been training in Spain since late January but left at the weekend because of the worsening situation in Europe, now the focal point of the pandemic. Wuhan will reportedly continue their chaotic pre-season preparations in Shenzhen. Wuhan itself is still in lockdown, despite virus numbers in China reducing. The CSL season was supposed to begin on February 22 but was indefinitely postponed. It could start behind closed doors in May, according to reports. Leo Baptistao, Wuhan’s Brazilian attacker, told Chinese media before departing Spain that the situation “has flipped”.

CRICKET: On this day - March 16, 2012, will be etched in the minds of cricket fans across the globe as the day when legendary India batsman Sachin Tendulkar scored his 100th international century. Popularly known as the ‘God of Cricket’, Tendulkar’s record remains unbroken. During the Asia Cup clash against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Tendulkar played a brilliant knock of 114 to bring up his 49th ODI century. The maestro already had 51 hundreds to his name in the longest format of the game.

MOTORSPORT: Formula One drivers Max Verstappen and Lando Norris were racing on Sunday but, with the season-opening Australian Grand Prix cancelled due to the coronavirus, it was against invisible opponents on virtual racetracks. The world of e-sports came to the rescue in the absence of a race in Melbourne or indeed of any single-seater series with the Formula E and IndyCar calendars also ravaged by the fast-spreading virus. Red Bull’s Verstappen finished 11th in an ‘All-star E-sports Battle’ with a cast of other real racing drivers and professional gamers. McLaren’s Norris finished sixth in another virtual race, the ‘Not the Aus GP’ organised by Veloce E-sports and shown live on Twitch.TV and YouTube.

Football: Calls are growing in Scotland to declare the current football season null and void due to the coronavirus outbreak. Reports have emerged that at least one Scottish Premiership side have urged SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster to cancel the season and wipe it from the record books — meaning Premiership League leaders Celtic would miss out on the title. All football in Scotland was postponed on Friday “until further notice”.

BASKETBALL: Hornets owner Michael Jordan and the Hornets players have partnered to establish a fund to provide financial assistance to the team’s part-time employees adversely affected by the loss of games and events due to the coronavirus pandemic. Payments from the fund will assist more than 500 part-time staff.

BRAZIL: President Jair Bolsonaro said suspending sports in the country is “hysteria”. He directly mentioned Brazil’s football confederation for suspending its tournaments. Bolsonaro took part in protests that gathered thousands in his support on Sunday despite medical recommendations that he stay in isolation due to coronavirus contagion risks.

FOOTBALL: The Seattle Sounders say a member of the team’s support staff is in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19. The team says the staff member worked the club’s match against Columbus on March 7, but did not become ill until four days later. The team said the individual did not have access to the general public and “only had access to the team in controlled areas during the game”.

FOOTBALL: Brazil’s confederation has suspended all competitions under its control due to the coronavirus outbreak. The tournaments affected include the men’s Brazilian Cup, the top two tiers of the women’s Brazilian championship, and junior tournaments. The men’s top-tier Brazilian championship is scheduled to begin in April. Players at Brazilian club Gremio staged a protest of their own by wearing face masks on the field before the start of their game against San Jose on Sunday. Gremio players and coaching staff arrived at the Rio Grande do Sul state championship game wearing the masks.

HORSE RACING: One of the prep races for the Kentucky Derby has been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The $700,000 Sunland Derby on March 22 in New Mexico was called off . Officials at the track across the border from El Paso, Texas, also said it would be the last day of racing to comply with the request of the governor.

MLB: Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels says the team has “effectively” closed down its training camp in Arizona, with a bulk of players from the big league camp electing to go home. He says 15 to 20 players were headed to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where they either have a primary residence or a place where they live during the regular MLB season.

MOTORSPORT The Texas racetrack that hosts the Formula One US Grand Prix and other motor racing series announced it is closing indefinitely after a series of cancellations because of concerns about the coronavirus. The Circuit of the Americas was supposed to host the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas on April 5 and the IndyCar Challenge on April 26. Both races have been cancelled.

FOOTBALL: Professional football has shut down in Mexico following Sunday’s matches, which were played with no fans present as a precaution due to the new coronavirus. The measure applies to the men’s top flight and second division as well as the fledgling women’s league.

FOOTBALL: The Italian football federation is planning to ask Uefa to postpone the European Championship. Federation president Gabriele Gravina said that Italian officials want Serie A to be completed by June 30. The Stadio Olimpico in Rome is slated to host the opening match of Euro 2020 on June 12, plus three other games of the tournament. Serie A is currently suspended until April 3, along with all other sports in Italy, the European epicentre of the virus outbreak. Uefa has a meeting planned on Tuesday to discuss the calendar.