SPORTS AGENDA: Coronavirus could make Tokyo Olympics a TV-only event
A line of questioning on a recent call between the International Olympic Committee, the World Health Organization and various sports’ federations chiefs has led some to wonder if holding this summer’s Tokyo Olympics behind closed doors is being considered as the coronavirus crisis worsens.
Sports Agenda understands that the WHO were asked if shutting big global sports events to fans would lower risk of the disease spreading. The answer was said to be non-committal.
In theory, hosting the Games behind closed doors but allowing camera crews in would satisfy the multi-million pound TV deals already signed and be viewed as an alternative to cancelling the event or shifting it elsewhere.
The worsening coronavirus crisis could cause the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to be a TV-only event
It emerged on Sunday that Japanese sumo wrestling is the latest competition to be affected by the outbreak, with national broadcaster NHK reporting that officials have decided to exclude fans from spring’s grand sumo tournament in Osaka.
A minor improvement
It is traditional at the annual meeting of football’s lawmakers, the International Football Association Board, that the predominantly male participants bring along their wives and partners.
The Scottish FA failed to cover themselves in glory last year by sending the group to a flower-arranging class while the men got down to business in Aberdeen.
At least this year the Irish FA packed off the women to somewhere decent — Belfast’s Titanic museum.
Leeds’ meticulous planning
Leeds are famed for their meticulous planning under Marcelo Bielsa, so perhaps it should come as no surprise that the club rang ahead of their latest FA disciplinary hearing to request the normal Wembley spread of sandwiches and crisps was supplemented with a healthy option.
Following the hearing, Kiko Casilla was given an eight-match ban for racially abusing Charlton striker Jonathan Leko. Written reasons behind the suspension are due on Monday and insiders say they will not make pleasant reading for Leeds.
Leeds requested a healthy option from the catering at their FA disciplinary hearing at Wembley
Still shaking hands?
FIFA president Gianni Infantino arrived at Belfast’s Culloden Hotel for the IFAB meeting and headed straight to a huddle of reporters in the lobby. Wary of the coronavirus storm, Infantino jokingly asked the pack if they were ‘still shaking hands’ before proceeding to do so. Tubs of hand sanitiser gel were left outside meeting rooms at the Holywood venue.
Meanwhile, legendary singer-songwriter Van Morrison was spotted enjoying breakfast at the plush hotel and spa, which led some to wonder if IFAB had pushed the boat out for the entertainment at their evening dinner. It turned out Belfast-born Morrison is a regular at the five-star complex — and an artist offering caricatures was the entertainment at the meal.
Gianni Infantino wondered whether they were still shaking hands amid coronavirus fears
Hands off the Gold Cup!
Ever since Cheltenham brought back the original Gold Cup and presented it to the team behind last year’s winner, Al Boum Photo, they have operated a policy that anyone who is not a Gold Cup winner cannot touch the trophy. That will be no problem for Sir AP McCoy and Ruby Walsh when they are expert panellists at the track’s preview evening on Sunday.
However, panel chairman Cornelius Lysaght, the outgoing BBC racing correspondent, will be issued with a pair of white gloves to ensure his fingerprints aren’t left on the prize.
Anyone who is not a Gold Cup winner cannot touch the trophy, so Ruby Walsh will be fine
Cheltenham’s observation wheel
The jockeys on Cheltenham’s draining hill will not be the only ones wanting to time their runs to perfection at next week’s Festival.
The track have drafted in a 35-metre observation wheel for their new Park Enclosure and being in one of the top pods on the mini-London Eye as a race finishes will give inhabitants one of the best views of the action.
Refunds for Notts County fans
Notts County supporters have had plenty to moan about in recent times and two postponed fixtures at AFC Fylde only added to their grief, given many fans had set out for the National League fixtures when they were called off. However, the generous Lancashire side have now offered full refunds to those who bought tickets, handed over free replacements and paid for two coaches to transport Magpies fans from Meadow Lane to Fylde’s Mill Farm ground for the third attempt on Tuesday night.
Cup finalists treated to an ode to Liverpool
Bemused Aston Villa and Manchester City officials at Wembley could have been forgiven for thinking they were at the wrong game when EFL chairman Rick Parry made his welcome address at Sunday’s Carabao Cup final.
First, the former Liverpool chief executive (wearing a red tie), introduced a video narrated by a Liverpudlian with clips of Jurgen Klopp’s men, who were knocked out by Villa. And there were further puzzled looks when, with Brian Little and Mike Summerbee present, Parry introduced his special guest — none other than ex-Reds boss Gerard Houllier.
Aston Villa and Manchester City fans were treated to a seemingly Liverpool-biased video
Getting his hands dirty
Premier League head of news Gareth Mills, who starts in the role on Monday, will have no issues with getting his hands dirty if his last day as communications chief at the Rugby Football Union is anything to go by.
The former Chelsea staffer was spotted with pitchfork in hand replacing divots on the Twickenham pitch during half-time of England’s Six Nations victory over Ireland last month. It is unlikely he will be asked to do similar at Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge and Anfield.
Media day at St George’s Park
The FA are planning a media day at St George’s Park ahead of Euro 2020 after a similar event before Russia 2018 was deemed a huge success. Daily activities with the press during the tournament are also being drawn up.
The ice-breaker last year was a darts tournament which saw legendary former Sports Agenda columnist Charles Sale defeated by England defender Gary Cahill in Repino.
HOW CORONAVIRUS HAS HIT THE WORLD OF SPORT SO FAR
2020 OLYMPIC GAMES
In doubt
The scale of the outbreak in Japan saw senior International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound describe the disease as ‘the new war’ threatening Tokyo 2020 and he warned the Games may have to be cancelled if the virus was still around by May.
Olympic organisers told athletes to train as normal with no decision on cancellation
The Japanese government later insisted Pound’s comments were not the IOC’s official stance but there remains doubts over whether the summer showcase can still go ahead with health concerns.
Athletes have been told to keep training and the plan remains to hold the Games in Japan as planned but training for around 80,000 volunteers has been delayed for at least two months- it was due to begin on February 22.
ATHLETICS
Cancelled
World Athletics Indoor Championships (March 13-15 in Nanjing) is off until 2021.
The World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, has been postponed due to concerns over the danger of the coronavirus and its ability to spread
North Korea cancelled the Pyongyang Marathon scheduled for April after imposing a border lockdown due to the level of outbreak in South Korea.
The Seoul Marathon is cancelled in a bid to protect runners following the mass outbreak in South Korea.
The Paris half-marathon is canceled and the French government also decided to ban all indoor public gatherings of more than 5,000 people.
The race involving some 44,000 competitors was scheduled for Sunday (March 1) in the French capital city. Organizers said the race will be postponed to a date yet to be determined.
In doubt
A mixed relay Olympic triathlon qualification event scheduled for Chengdu, China in May is moved to Valencia, pending an outbreak in Spain.
BADMINTON
Cancelled
German Open (March 3-8), Vietnam Open (March 24-29) and Polish Open (March 26-29), all Olympic qualifying events, are cancelled due to ‘strict health protection’.
BOXING
Cancelled
Olympic boxing qualifiers to be staged in Wuhan were cancelled by the International Olympic Committee, and now are relocated to occur in Amman from March 3-11
The IBF title fight between Daniele Scardina and Andrew Francillette in Milan on February 28 was postponed by Matchroom due to restrictions in Italy following the outbreak.
The Japanese boxing commission cancelled all fight cards scheduled for March on government advice to suspend all pending sporting fixtures. They will not be rescheduled.
CYCLING
In doubt
Danish cyclist Michael Morkov has been cleared to race at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships after being kept in isolation over fears of an outbreak of coronavirus.
Morkov, 34, had travelled to Berlin on Thursday after contesting the first four stages of the UAE Tour, the final two stages of which were then cancelled after two members of staff on the race were suspected of having the disease.
Riders and staff on the UAE Tour have been in lockdown since but, after the Abu Dhabi Department of Health issued a statement on Saturday saying 167 tests had come back negative, the UCI said Morkov was free to race as normal.
Danish cyclist Michael Morkov was tested for coronavirus after being put in isolation
FOOTBALL
Cancelled
All domestic fixtures at all levels are postponed by the Chinese Football Association as the season is pushed back due to the scale of the outbreak in China.
Asian Champions League matches involving Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG are postponed until April.
The start of the Korean K-League season is postponed. The four teams in the AFC Champions League playing their matches behind closed doors.
Ludogorets players were taking no chances after the coronavirus outbreak in Italy
Japan’s J-League postponed all domestic games until the middle of March.
Inter Milan’s game against Sampdoria was one of four Serie A games cancelled last weekend due to affected regions in Italy leading to advice from the prime minister to call off sporting events.
Serie A then announced on Saturday that five of this weekend’s fixtures, including the title showdown between Juventus and Inter Milan, have been cancelled. There will now be no games played until March 8 in the regions affected in Italy’s top flight.
Impacted
The home leg of the Chinese women’s national team’s Olympic qualification play-off against South Korea set for March is switched to Sydney. The squad are held in quarantine upon their arrival in Australia for January’s qualifying group stage due to fears of virus carriers.
Inter Milan’s Europa League match against Ludogorets on February 27 will be played behind closed doors. Only TV rights-holders are allowed to attend as media as the club look to secure the San Siro. Ludogorets players arrived in Italy wearing face masks.
Serie A announced five matches on February 28-March 1 will be played behind closed doors, including Juventus v Inter Milan in Turin, a huge match between title rivals.
Newcastle United have banned their players from shaking hands with each other amid coronavirus fears.
Three players from third-division Italian football club US Pianese have tested positive for coronavirus, the Tuscany side confirmed on Friday.
In doubt
England’s friendly against Italy at Wembley in March is now in doubt as the FA holds crisis talks following the outbreak in northern Italy.
Israel has warned citizens to avoid all international travel, which raises questions whether supporters or players will travel to Scotland for their Euro 2020 play-off match on March 26.
Growing concerns that some matches at Euro 2020 could be called off if the coronavirus outbreak gets worse between now and the summer. The tournament is set to be multi-city. UEFA admit they are in a ‘waiting stage’ and must follow the orders of the individual countries involved. However, FA Chairman Greg Clarke has stated that he expects the tournament to go ahead.
FORMULA ONE
Cancelled
The Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on April 19 is postponed with no decision over whether it will be reinserted into the 2020 calendar for later in the season.
The Chinese GP was first to be cancelled and other races could yet follow that lead
In doubt
The Australian Grand Prix will go ahead despite an emergency response plan being enacted across the country to deal with the virus. The chief executive of the tourism council says that Victoria cannot afford for the event to be cancelled.
The Bahrain Grand Prix is still planned to go ahead despite a number of flights from Dubai and the UAE into the country being cancelled this week due to coronavirus fears.
There are growing concerns over whether the inaugural Vietnam Grand Prix (scheduled to take place in Hanoi on April 5) will go ahead.
GOLF
Cancelled
The Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific golf championship, slated to take place from February 12-15 in Thailand, was postponed and has been rescheduled for October.
The Honda LPGA Thailand event in Pattaya, Thailand scheduled for February 20-23 along with the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore, scheduled to start on February 27, were both postponed
The PGA Tour Series-China postponed two qualifying tournaments and delayed the start of its 2020 campaign by two months, cutting the number of regular season events down from 14 to 10.
The decision was made to cancel the LPGA Blue Bay tournament in China, with the event at Hainan Island (due to start on March 5) seen as dangerous to players’ health
The European Tour postponed the Maybank Championship (April 16-19 in Kuala Lumpur) and Volvo China Open (April 23-26 in Shenzhen).
Impacted
Lorenzo Gagli and Edoardo Molinari were withdrawn from the Oman Open on medical grounds after Gagli showed symptoms of the virus. He shared a hotel room with Molinari and he was told to self-isolate. They were later reinstated to the tournament after testing negative for the virus.
HORSE RACING
Impacted
The Japan Racing Association revealed that ‘government-sanctioned races’ will go behind closed doors.
Two race meetings in France next week are to take place behind closed doors in a response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Monday’s jumps card and the Wednesday fixture on the Flat at Compiegne will have no paying customers, with the order coming from the mayor of the town and the president of the Compiegne Racing Society.
In doubt
Cheltenham festival is in doubt as organisers set up a steering group to consider the danger posed by the virus, just 13 days prior to the prestigious Gold Cup event
The Cheltenham Festival is set to go ahead despite travel disruption caused by the virus
RUGBY
Cancelled
Scotland Women’s Six Nations match with Italy on February 23 is postponed due to an outbreak in the Milan area.
Ireland’s Six Nations meeting with Italy on March 7 is postponed.
Ospreys and Ulster’s Pro14 trips to play in Italy on February 29 are postponed. Ospreys were due to play Zebre in Parma with Treviso the venue for Ulster’s game against Benetton.
Ireland’s Six Nations encounter with Italy on March 7 has been postponed
The Italian Rugby Federation suspended its National Championship and youth games for February 28-March 1.
Hong Kong Rugby Sevens is postponed, which is a blow to Olympic preparations for Team GB.
In doubt
Scottish rugby announced preparations ‘continue as normal’ as they discuss with French rugby whether to proceed with their Six Nations match on March 8 following a second coronavirus death in France.
All of Italy’s remaining Six Nations fixtures – they are due to host England in their final game on March 14 – are in serious doubt given the scale of the outbreak in Italy
TENNIS
Cancelled
The final of an ATP Challenger event in Bergamo, Italy, between Enzo Couacaud and Illya Marchenko of Ukraine is cancelled. Both players received ranking points and prize money for getting to the final. They were denied the opportunity to play behind closed doors.
China forfeited a Davis Cup tie because the men’s team were unable to travel to Romania for the March 6-7 playoff.
WTA event Xi’an Open (set for April 13-19) is cancelled due to fears over player safety. WTA announced they are assessing their schedule with a number of events set for China in the second half of the season.
Impacted
Japan’s home Davis Cup tie against Ecuador next week is now set to be played behind closed doors.
In doubt
WTA event Kunming Open is considered for cancellation after Xi’an Open was called off. It is due to start on April 27.
OTHER SPORTS
Cancelled
Cycling’s United Arab Emirates Tour has been cancelled with Chris Froome tested for coronavirus and Mark Cavendish put into lockdown in his hotel room.
South Korean baseball league cancelled all 50 pre-season game which were slated to take place from March 14-24. It is the first time since the leagues inception in 1982 that an entire set of exhibition matches are off.
The first-stage draw for the Table Tennis World Championships, scheduled for South Korea from March 22-29, is postponed.
A beach volleyball tournament, due to be held in Yangzhou from April 22-26, is postponed until after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
World Short track speed skating championship in Seoul is cancelled.
Next month’s World Triathlon Series event in Abu Dhabi was postponed on Saturday as a precautionary measure.
The event was due to take place from March 5 to March 7 in the city, which has reported new cases of the virus.
Event organisers said they still hoped to reschedule the event to take place later in March or April.
All 72 pre-season baseball games in Japan are to take place behind closed doors
Impacted
The Japanese professional baseball league made the decision to play their 72 pre-season games behind closed doors until March 15. Baseball is among the most popular sports in Japan.
In doubt
The South Korean baseball league regular season is in doubt ahead of the first round of matches on March 28. An emergency meeting has been called.
Doubts remain as the Asian weightlifting championships, scheduled for March, are relocated from Kazakhstan to neighbouring Uzbekistan. They could still be postponed.
