Paris (AFP)

The Indian Wells tennis tournament canceled, three matches of the Six Nations postponed, PSG-Dortmund behind closed doors in the Champions League: the coronavirus continued Monday to deeply upset sporting events.

A symbol: the lighting ceremony of the Olympic flame scheduled for Thursday in Athens will be without spectators, announced Monday the Olympic Committee. Only a hundred handpicked guests will be able to attend the event in Greece where all the sporting events of the next two weeks will be held without an audience.

Greece is not the only country to advocate behind closed doors to respond to the expanding epidemic.

In France, the Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu decreed in camera as the "doctrine" of organizing sports competitions the day after the decision of the Minister of Health Olivier Véran to ban gatherings of more than 1,000 people, including outdoors.

For several days, the question had arisen for the round of 16 return from C1 between PSG and Borussia Dortmund, Wednesday at the Parc des Princes in Paris. The ax fell on Monday late in the morning: the authorities decided behind closed doors for this crucial match, as for the meeting between Valencia and Atalanta Bergamo on Tuesday.

To avoid behind closed doors, certain sports and certain countries have opted for postponements or cancellations. The last meeting of the French rugby team in the six nations tournament scheduled for Saturday in Paris against Ireland has thus been postponed to a later date. In total, three matches in the competition were postponed due to the epidemic.

The Indian Wells tennis tournament, by increasing prevention measures, had tried everything before throwing in the towel. But the organizers of one of the most important tournaments on the ATP and WTA circuit, excluding the Grand Slam, finally resolved to cancel the event, a first for tennis.

In Japan, the kickoff of the Japanese baseball championship, a major sport in the archipelago, and scheduled for March 20, has also been postponed, announced Monday the Japanese Professional Baseball League (NPB), which does not envisage not to oblige the twelve teams of its championship to play without public. "Our goal is to start the season in April," said NPB boss Atsushi Saito.

© 2020 AFP