China decided today not to host international sporting events in the remainder of 2020, as part of measures to stop the outbreak of the new Corona virus, according to what the local government announced, in a possible strike to host the rounds of the F1 world championship and tennis tournaments.
The Sports Authority in Shanghai had recently announced that it had received offers to host two races in the first category championship this year, while several yellow ball tournaments are scheduled in the country.
Although the number of infected people has decreased significantly, in countries that were the focus of the virus that later spread around the world starting from last year, it seems that China has excluded the organization of many sporting events.
"Except for the experimental events of the 2002 Beijing Olympics," and other important events, in principle, no other sporting events will be held this year, "the General Sports Authority said in a statement. The Supreme Sports Authority has not decided which competitions will be excluded, but the official Xinhua News Agency said that "many international sporting events will be affected."
The global sports calendar was greatly affected in 2020 due to the "Covid-19", so the Summer Olympics and the European Football Cup were postponed to the summer of 2021. China was scheduled to host tennis tournaments later this year as part of a revised calendar. This includes the Wuhan Ladies' Course in October, at the epicenter of the virus in the country, to constitute a symbolic event expected.
But this decision casts doubts on the Wuhan tournament, in addition to the WTA Championship final for the close of the men's parallel season, in addition to the Shanghai Masters tournament usually held in the fall season. The Chinese Football Association last week set the date of July 25 this date for the start of the local league season, months later than scheduled.
May not all players outside the country be able to join their teams, because China is still preventing the entry of nearly all foreigners into the country for fear of a new wave of "Covid 19". On June 20, the basketball league became the first professional sports championship to resume its activities, but behind closed doors, after months of different sports activities were suspended due to the virus.