- Thursday, December 08, 2022
By: Sarwar Alam
Wimbledon on Wednesday joined the list of sports events cancelled or postponed in the face of the coronavirus pandemic signalling that the standstill in global sports could extend deep into the summer.
Here, we look at the events impacted by the virus which has killed more than 43,000 people around the world, according to a tally compiled at 1100 GMT Wednesday.
TENNIS
— Wimbledon organisers on Wednesday scrapped the grasscourt Grand Slam for the first time since World War II.
The two-week event was due to start on June 29. The cancellation of the only grasscourt major leaves the season in disarray, with no tennis due to be played until mid-July.
— US Tennis Association responded to the announcement by saying that they still plan to host the US Open starting August 31 in New York.
— The French Open has been postponed from its May 24-June 7 slot to September 20-October 4.
— The finals of the Fed Cup, scheduled for Budapest from April 14-19, postponed indefinitely.
TOKYO OLYMPICS
— The Tokyo Games, originally scheduled to start on July 24, have been put back almost exactly one year and will instead open on July 23, 2021.
The Paralympics will be held from August 24 to September 5.
ATHLETICS
— The postponement of the Olympics had a knock-on effect with World Athletics putting back their world championships, scheduled for Eugene, Oregon, from August 6-15 2021, to 2022 to accommodate the re-arranged Tokyo Games.
— The World Indoor Championships, scheduled for Nanjing from March 13-15, were postponed for a year.
— Boston Marathon moved from April 20 to September 14.
— London Marathon switched from April 26 to October 4.
FOOTBALL
Internationals
— UEFA, which had already postponed Euro 2020 until 2021, on Wednesday axed all other international games scheduled for June to give suspended club competitions a chance to finish. UEFA said it was determined they should finish by June 30.
— To make way for the Euros next summer, the women’s Euro scheduled for July 7 to August 1, 2021, will be postponed along with the Nations League final stages.
— The Copa America has been moved from June 12-July 12 2020 in Argentina and Colombia to summer 2021.
Clubs
— UEFA has postponed the Champions League, Europa League and women’s Champions League finals, originally scheduled for May but has given no new dates.
— In Italy, where more than 12,000 people have died, all matches — as well as all major sports events — have been suspended. Administrators say they are not expecting a resumption before May 2 at the earliest.
— The English Premier League has been suspended until April 30.
— In Germany, the Bundesliga suspension has been extended to April 30.
— In Spain, all professional football has been suspended indefinitely.
— In France, Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 and women’s football have been suspended indefinitely.
— Outside Europe, most top leagues have been affected, with the start of the J-League delayed, Major League Soccer in the United States and China’s top-flight Super League put on hold.
RUGBY UNION
— The Six Nations tournament was disrupted with four matches, including all of the final-round games scheduled to be played in March, put back until October.
— France’s Top 14, the English Premiership and the Southern Hemisphere’s Super Rugby are all suspended while the European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup semi-finals and finals have been postponed. The finals of the two competitions were due to have been played on the weekend of May 22/23 in the French city of Marseille.
MOTOR RACING
— The first eight races of the Formula One season have been either scrapped or postponed with the season opener now put back until at least June 14 with the Canada Grand Prix in Montreal.
— US autoracing’s famed Indianapolis 500 was moved from May 24 to August 23.
— In motorcycling, the first five rounds of the world championships have been postponed. The season is due to open with the French Grand Prix at Le Mans on May 17.
GOLF
— The Masters (April 9-12) and the PGA Championship (May 14-17) have been put back to unspecified dates while the USPGA Tour is effectively suspended until May 21. The US LPGA Tour is on hold until May 14.
— The European Tour has put events on hold until June 4.
CRICKET
— All major international cricket series cancelled.
— The start of India’s IPL, originally scheduled for March 29, was delayed until at least April 15.
— A swathe of qualifiers due to take place before July for the Twenty20 World Cup and the 2023 50-over World Cup postponed.
CYCLING
— The International Cycling Union announced on Wednesday that it was extending the suspension of all events until at least June 1.
— The French Sports Minister has raised the possibility that fans could be banned from the roadside in the Tour de France, which is due to start on June 27.
— The three week Giro d’Italia in May and the spring classics have been called off, but the postponement of the Olympic Games opens a summer and Autumn window in the schedule and which could allow the Tour de France to run in August, the Vuelta in September and the Giro in October.
BASEBALL
— Major League Baseball cancelled Opening Day on March 12 and has not set a date for a start of the season. The June series in London between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinal has been cancelled.
BASKETBALL
— The NBA has been on hold indefinitely since March 11 for an initial period of one month.
ICE HOCKEY
— The National Hockey League halted on March 12, three weeks before the end of the regular season.
— International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships scheduled for Switzerland in May cancelled.
ALPINE SKIING
— The season-closing World Cup Finals in Cortina d’Ampezzo were scrapped.
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