Last Friday, China reported 5,090 new cases of Coronavirus and 121 new deaths in the last 24 hours. Further, Japan had also reported its first death affected by Coronavirus as it continues to spread.
Also, the virus had already destroyed matches, golf tournaments, and almost all the tournaments and matches in China, which includes Olympic qualifying events as well. Besides, this is the first time in history that many events had been postponed or canceled.
Until further notice, the FIA delayed the Shanghai Grand Prix after a request from Juss group, the race promoter; Initially, the race which was announced to take place on April 19, as the fourth race in F1 Calendar.
The Abu Dhabi GP had been pushed back to the end of the season; Pencil Shanghai has been pushed to November. Nevertheless, there is also a task of rescheduling the races to November and Shanghai’s weather is unpredictable in November.
Hong Kong’s main sports event, the Rugby Sevens which had been initially reported by South China Morning Post, had also been postponed. The tournament this year was due to start from April 3 to April 5. It had been pushed to a later date starting from October 16 to October 18.
Athletics, which was due to start Nanjing in March before World Indoor Championship, was postponed for one year. World Athletics, the governing body, before making a decision checked with the World Health Organization. Originally, the championships were to be held in Nanjing from March 13 to March 15.
Further, Formula one to start before the Shanghai Grand Prix was postponed. The Chinese Grand Prix was postponed due to the outbreak of Coronavirus; the race was to start in Shanghai on April 19. The FIA, Formula one sport’s governing body made it succinct that wellbeing and the health of their sportsperson were more important in making this decision.
Additionally, the World Cup Alpine Skiing event, which was supposed to take place in February, has been canceled. Moreover, the International Ski Federation (FIS) declared that the Super-G and downhill races will be rescheduled later this year. These events were to be held at Yanging, which was the venue for the Beijing Winter Olympics.