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LONDON (AP) — The Latest on the coronavirus outbreak’s affect on sports around the globe (all times local):
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Noon
The International Fencing Federation has postponed all international events for the next five weeks, including four Olympic qualifying tournaments.
The FIE made the decision after the coronavirus outbreak was declared a pandemic, and the U.S. banned travelers from 26 European countries starting on Friday.
The events postponed included the Africa, Asia, Europe and Americas qualifiers next month. Also off is the Anaheim Grand Prix in California starting on Friday, and the junior world championships in Salt Lake City next month.
Four World Cups in saber and epee next week were also called off.
“Full details regarding the rescheduling of competitions will be announced at a later date,” the FIE said. “Information regarding Olympic selection criteria will be made as schedules for the remainder of the season are finalized.”
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11:40 a.m.
The Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament could be staged without spectators after a government decree related to the coronavirus outbreak.
Indian sports minister Kiren Rijuju told all national sports federations to ban spectators at all events, but events can go on if they “can’t be avoided.”
The decision impacts the hugely popular IPL, due to start on March 29 and last seven weeks.
It’s not yet been determined how it will affect the one-day international series between India and South Africa which began on Thursday in Dharamsala. The second ODI is in Lucknow on Sunday, and the third ODI in Kolkata next Wednesday.
Foreign players are expected to face difficulties in traveling to India as the government on Wednesday suspended all visas, barring categories such as diplomatic and employment-related, until April 15 in an attempt to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Unless the government makes an exception, foreign cricketers will not be given business visas with which they travel to play the IPL.
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11:30 a.m.
McLaren says it has withdrawn from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne after a team member tested positive for the coronavirus.
The British-based team says the person was self-isolated as soon as they started to show symptoms and “will now enter a period of quarantine.”
Team officials have taken the decision to pull out of Sunday’s race “based on a duty of care” for McLaren employees and the wider Formula One family.
Qualifying was scheduled to start Friday.
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11:15 a.m.
Real Madrid says its soccer and basketball teams have been put in quarantine after a basketball play for the club tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Spanish club says the soccer team was also affected because it shares training facilities with the basketball team.
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11:05 a.m.
German broadcaster Sky says it will show some Bundesliga soccer games on a free channel after spectators were barred from the stadiums.
Sky will show four league games simultaneously on Saturday on its non-subscription news channel in a “conference” format, with the broadcast switching between each game to show the key action.
That includes Borussia Dortmund’s game against Schalke, which is one of Germany’s most heated rivalries.
There will be a similar procedure for some second-division games.
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11 a.m.
South Korea’s professional baseball league says it will postpone the start of its season to mid-April because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The Korea Baseball Organization says it still hopes to maintain a 144-game regular-season schedule but will consider banning spectators from some games when risks of infections are high.
The KBO had already canceled its preseason.
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10:55 a.m.
The Euroleague says it is suspending all games indefinitely because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Europe’s main club basketball competition says it made the decision because of “the increased risks for participants in games, the vast amount of traveling disruptions causing the impossibility to reach certain destinations, and the different recommendations by the health authorities.”
The league was scheduled to hold regular-season games in Moscow, Istanbul, Madrid and Tel Aviv on Thursday.
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10:30 a.m.
The International Basketball Federation says it is suspending all competitions indefinitely from Friday.
FIBA says the decision was made “in order to protect the health and safety of players, coaches, officials and fans.”
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The suspension includes games in the Basketball Champions League, which is a rival competition to the better known Euroleague, and the second-tier FIBA Europe Cup. The Champions League is part-way through its playoffs.
Men’s qualification for the Tokyo Olympics is expected to resume in June with a series of qualifying tournaments overseen by FIBA. Women’s qualifying has already concluded.
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10:25 a.m.
The hockey-like game of bandy has postponed its world championships in Russia because of the spreading coronavirus.
The Swedish Bandy Association says the tournament, scheduled to be played from March 29-April 5 in Irkutsk, has been postponed until October.
International Bandy Association president Boris Skrynnik says “we know that there are concerns in other countries when it comes to travel and spending time with larger groups.”
The under-15 world championships in Arkhangelsk, Russia, at the end of the month will also be played at a later date.
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10:15 a.m.
Denmark’s top soccer leagues are shutting down for at least two weeks because of the spreading coronavirus.
The Danish league made the move a day after the national government announced a lockdown. The small Scandinavian country has 514 cases of people testing positive.
“We will look at exactly what this will mean for the running of the tournaments for the weeks to come,” said Danish league director Claus Thomsen, adding more information on what will happen with the postponed matches and the rest of the season will be announced later.
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10:10 a.m.
The Swiss hockey league has ended the season in the top two divisions before the playoffs because of the spreading coronavirus.
The league’s decision comes less than two months before Switzerland is due to host the world championships in Zurich and Lausanne.
The league says decisions on awarding titles, and promotion and relegation places, will be decided at a special meeting on Friday.
The Swiss soccer leagues have been suspended through March, and Basel is unable to host a Europa League game next week against Eintracht Frankfurt.
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10:05 a.m.
After the NBA suspended its season, the Euroleague is considering doing the same.
The league says it is consulting with clubs about a suspension, something which its players are demanding.
“Euroleague and the participating clubs cannot ask from players to put their health and that of their families at risk,” the Euroleague Players Association said.
The players’ union asked for the season to be suspended “until health, safety and freedom of movement can be guaranteed.”
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10 a.m.
The Juventus player who tested positive for the coronavirus says he’s “OK” and wants “to reassure everyone who is worrying about me.”
Juventus announced late Wednesday that defender Daniele Rugani and “those who have had contact with him” are being isolated. It also said Rugani is not showing any symptoms of the disease.
Rugani sent a post on Twitter overnight in Italian.
“You’ll have read the news and that’s why I want to reassure everyone who is worrying about me. I’m OK. I want to remind everyone to respect the rules, because this virus doesn’t make distinctions! Let’s do it four ourselves, for those dear to us and for those around us,” he wrote.
Rugani is the first player in the country’s top soccer division to test positive for the virus.
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9:55 a.m.
The season-ending men’s World Cup ski races were canceled Thursday to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, giving Norwegian skier Aleksander Aamodt Kilde his first overall title.
Giant slalom and slalom races were scheduled for this weekend in Kranjska Gora, near Slovenia’s border with Italy.
The cancellations mean Henrik Kristoffersen, another Norwegian, becomes the season champion in both disciplines by tiny margins.
A four-race finals week in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, was canceled last week by the International Ski Federation.
“The health and welfare of the athletes and all other participants, as well as the general public are in the forefront and the priority of FIS and all stakeholders,” the governing body said Thursday.
Kilde’s runner-up finish in what proved to be the season-ending race — a downhill last Saturday in Kvitfjell, Norway — lifted him to the overall title above French rival Alexis Pinturault.
Pinturault also finished runner-up to Kristoffersen in giant slalom. Another Frenchman, Clement Noel, was runner-up to Kristoffersen for the season-long slalom title by only two points, 552-550.
Kristoffersen had an outside chance of winning the overall title if the final two races had gone ahead.
Kilde succeeds Austrian great Marcel Hirscher, who won eight straight overall titles before retiring in the offseason.
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