After the lockups and postponements, the quarantined teams in their country. Already hit hard by the restrictions linked to the new coronavirus epidemic, world sport has to face the travel difficulties of the players themselves.
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Europa League matches postponed
European football was barely beginning to digest the announcements of behind closed doors to limit the movement of supporters that a new problem appeared on Wednesday 11 March, on the eve of the first matches of the 8es Europa League finals.
Thus, AS Rome announced that it would not go to Spain for its match against Sevilla FC, Madrid having prohibited, from March 11 to 25, all flights from Italy, European country most affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, with 827 deaths out of over 4,500 deaths.
For his part, the president of another Spanish team, Getafe, Angel Torres, assured that his players would not travel to Italy to face Inter Milan on Thursday, also in the Europa League, for fear of "Enter a coronavirus outbreak". "If we have to lose the match, we will lose it", had even assured Tuesday evening Angel Torres.
The two meetings "Will not take place as planned on March 12", decided UEFA on Wednesday without mentioning a postponement or cancellation and while the return matches are scheduled for 19 March.
Possible rescheduling would further complicate the Italian calendar. In Rome, the government has indeed announced the suspension of all sports competitions, and therefore of the Series A, until April 3. However, the Italian championship will not a priori be able to encroach on summer, because Euro-2020 must start on June 12.
Three other Europa League games, including Linz-Manchester United, were to take place behind closed doors on Thursday, as was the Champions League clash between Paris SG and Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, with spectator games becoming the exception, as Glasgow Rangers-Bayer Leverkusen.
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The League Cup final postponed
Already dying, the Coupe de la Ligue, of which this is the last edition for lack of a broadcaster, is likely to die out in indifference. Scheduled for April 4 at the Stade de France, the final between Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG) and Olympique Lyonnais (OL) has indeed been postponed indefinitely, announced on Wednesday, the Professional Football League (LFP) , due to coronavirus restrictions.
"In consultation with Paris-Saint-Germain, Olympique Lyonnais, broadcasters and the French Football Federation (FFF), the LFP office will set a new date based on health developments and the European course of the two clubs ", specifies the League in a press release. The decision was made the day after the announcement of a closed session for all Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 games by April 15.
PSG will also meet in the final of the Coupe de France, against Saint-Etienne on April 25, at the Stade de France. The LFP has not yet decided on the match.
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World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal canceled
"The World Figure Skating Championships scheduled for Montreal next week are canceled", Quebec Minister of Health Danielle McCann said to the press, citing "The potential for transmission of the virus to a significant number of people" during the event scheduled for March 16-22 in Montreal.
ISU, the international skating union, says it will reassess " in the next weeks " the possibility of holding the event later in the year, "But not before October", and that it will remain in close contact with the Canadian federation before rendering its decision.
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NBA and Euroleague basketball
The National Basket Association (NBA) announced Wednesday evening the suspension until further notice of its championship, after the discovery of a positive case which would, according to the ESPN chain and the website The Athletic, the French pivot Utah Jazz Rudy Gobert.
In the Women's Basketball Euroleague, the Montpellier club had to give up traveling to Ekaterinburg, Russia, where they had to play in the first quarter-final of their history in the top European competition, as the players could not stop in Moscow, which imposes a period of isolation of fourteen days on any person coming in particular from France. The International Basketball Federation had yet to rule on the sporting consequences, but the problem may arise again for the players of Asvel Lyon-Villeurbanne, who meet in Orenburg on March 18.
For men, the next meetings of Italian clubs in Euroleague (Milan) and Eurocoupe (Venice and Bologna) must be relocated.
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The Handball League Final Four canceled
The Men's Handball League Final Four, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at Le Mans, is canceled due to the spread of new coronavirus and the confinement of two players from Chambéry, one of the teams involved, announced the League (NHL) Wednesday. "This decision is motivated by the wish not to take any health risk to the different actors of the event", explains the League in a press release.
"As of this date, nothing has yet been done regarding the possible postponement of the event. NHL leaders will meet soon to decide based on the different sporting calendar constraints of the teams involved ”, specifies the League.
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Women's Alpine Skiing World Cup
The Alpine Skiing Women's World Cup had a hasty epilogue on Wednesday: the Italian Federica Brignone won her 1er crystal globe after the cancellation of the last three races, scheduled in Are (Sweden) from Thursday to Saturday.
While the Argentine Motorcycle Grand Prix, scheduled from April 17 to 19, was postponed Wednesday from November 20 to 22, the fourth round affected by a season which was to start on March 8 in Qatar for all categories, from new worries joined Wednesday F1, which is to inaugurate hers this weekend in Australia.
Two members of the American team Haas and one of the British McLaren have voluntarily placed themselves in isolation after presenting flu-like symptoms.
Tennis also continues to be affected: the International Federation announced Wednesday the postponement, to a date yet to be determined, of the final phase of the Fed Cup initially scheduled for mid-April in Budapest.
Postponements, cancellations and behind closed doors are multiplying within five months of the Olympic Games (Tokyo) in Tokyo (July 24 – August 9), the largest sporting event in the world, where 11,000 athletes are expected and for whom 4.5 million tickets have been sold. In Japan, the virus infected 560 people, 12 of whom died.
Japanese Minister responsible for the Olympics judged Wednesday "Inconceivable" to postpone or cancel the Games, even if a member of the organizing committee, Haruyuki Takahashi, raised the hypothesis, according to the Wall street journal.
For the first time in three decades, the Olympic flame will be lit without spectators on Thursday at Olympia in Greece, the cradle of the Ancient Games.
