The sporting world has not been spared by the rampaging COVID-19 virus, with players, managers and officials falling victim to the virus all over the world.

In a bid to curtail the spread of the virus, several sports governing bodies have made decisions ranging from postponement to outright cancellation of sporting events and activities. Below are some of the sports affected and the decision taken by the bodies:

FOOTBALL

The Nigerian Professional Football League will run as scheduled, with  6 games on March 15.

In Africa, the 2021 CAF AFCON qualifiers scheduled to take place from March 25 to March 31 was postponed indefinitely

In England, all elite football has been suspended until at least April 3.

UEFA postponed next week’s Champions League and Europa League matches, Europe’s football governing body announced on March 13.

The first and second tiers of Spanish domestic football have been suspended for the next two matchdays, the Spanish football federation and the players’ union said on March 12.

FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation have agreed to postpone the Asian World Cup qualifying matches in March and June.

In Greece, the Europa League’s last-16 first-leg match between Olympiakos and Wolverhampton Wanderers on March 12 was played behind closed doors.

ALSO READ: 2021 AFCON qualifiers postponed over coronavirus

The top two tiers of French football – Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 – have been suspended until further notice.

In Paris, the Champions League clash between PSG and Borussia Dortmund on March 11 took place in an empty stadium.

The German Football League (DFL) called off matches scheduled for March 13-15 in the Bundesliga and second-tier Bundesliga 2. They recommended that both leagues be suspended until April 2.

In Denmark, players from Brondby and Lyngby are in isolation after they met former international Thomas Kahlenberg, who has tested positive for the virus.

The Swiss league has been put on hold until at least March 23.

All Romanian league matches will be played without fans until further notice.

All Bulgarian league matches in the next two rounds will be played without fans. The Bulgarian Football Union suspended ticket sales for the Euro 2020 qualifying playoff semi-final between Bulgaria and Hungary for March 26.

New seasons in the Chinese, Japanese and South Korean professional leagues have been postponed.

Asian Champions League matches involving Chinese clubs Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG have been postponed. The start of the knockout rounds has been moved back to September.

Formula One

Formula 1 has cancelled the season-opening Australian GP after a McLaren team member contracted the coronavirus. The race was scheduled to take place on March 15.

The Bahrain Grand Prix and the Vietnam Grand Prix have been postponed. Those events were first scheduled to take place on March 20-22 and April 3-5 respectively.

The Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, which was scheduled to take place on April 19, was also called off.

No new dates have been set for the races but governing body FIA says it expects to begin the F1 season in May when it reaches Europe with the Dutch GP.

Tennis

Disappointment for tennis fans in California as the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells is cancelled.

Also cancelled were the Xi’an Open, scheduled for April 13 to 19, and Kunming Open, pencilled for April 27 to May 3. Both events were to take place in China.

Boxing

The Olympic boxing qualifiers for Asia and Oceania were moved to Jordan from China.

NBA

The National Basketball Association said on March 11 that it was suspending the season until further notice after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for the virus.

Rugby

In France, the country’s rugby federation said on March 13 that it was suspending all of its competitions due to the outbreak.

At least three Six Nations matches have been postponed.

ALSO READ: Russia shuts Poland, Norway borders to foreigners ―PM

The women’s Six Nations game between Scotland and France was postponed after a Scottish player tested positive for coronavirus.

The Singapore and Hong Kong legs of the World Rugby Sevens Series have been postponed from April to October.

MotoGP

The opening two rounds of the season in Qatar, which were scheduled for March 6-8, did not go ahead. The Thailand race, due to be held on March 22, has been postponed.

Table tennis

The world championships in Busan, South Korea, have been pushed back provisionally from March to June.

The April 21 to 26 World Tour Japan Open in Kitakyushu has been postponed.

Golf

The Honda LPGA Thailand event and the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore have been cancelled.

The Maybank Championship in Kuala Lumpur and the China Open have been postponed.

Cycling

The final two stages of the UAE Tour were cancelled after two Italian participants tested positive for the coronavirus.

Four teams have pulled out of several cycling races in Italy.

Baseball

The final qualification tournament for the Olympics in Taiwan has been postponed from April to June.

Japan’s professional league has postponed the start of the new season.

Major League Baseball (MLB), the US’s professional baseball league, suspended its “spring training”, a period in the off-season that features practices and exhibition games that allow trainers to test new players on different teams.

The MLB also delayed its opening day, which was scheduled for March 26, for at least two weeks.

Cricket

The men’s Cricket World Cup Challenge League A, scheduled to begin on March 16 in Malaysia, has been postponed.

The Pakistan Cricket Board announced that Pakistan Super League matches in Karachi will be played with no spectators in the stadium.

Judo

The International Judo Federation cancelled all Olympic qualification events through to the end of April.

Weightlifting

The Asian Championships, scheduled to take place in Uzbekistan from April 16 to 25, have been cancelled.

Vanguard News