Italy suspends Serie A, all other sporting activities indefinitely over coronavirus
Italy suspends sports activities over coronavirus – The Italian national Olympic committee (CONI) on Monday confirmed that all domestic sporting activities in Italy are suspended until at least 3rd April amid increasing cases of coronavirus.
Italy is the second country behind China to register most deaths from coronavirus. It is Europe’s most hit country so far, with over 9,000 confirmed cases and 463 deaths.
In the wake of circumstances, Italy’s prime minister Giuseppe Conte has announced that all sporting activities will be suspended for the meantime as the country is still struggling to fight and eradicate the deadly virus.
This includes all matches in Serie A, Italy’s highest football division excluding competitions in which Italian clubs are meant to take part like the Europa League and Champions League.
However, Uefa has already confirmed that Champions League last 16 fixtures including Napoli vs Barcelona and Paris Saint Germain vs Borussia Dortmund will all be played behind closed doors without fans.
Besides, both legs of Roma’s Europa League tie against Sevilla will also be played without spectators.
Meanwhile, all last weekend’s Serie A matches were also played behind closed doors. A definitive answer is expected in the next 24 hours over whether the rugby league match between Catalans Dragons and Leeds, due to be played on Saturday, can go ahead.
However, the organisers of rugby union’s European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup competitions, EPCR, insist that the quarter-final ties scheduled for the weekend of 3-5 April are still set to go ahead.
The announcement came immediately after Sassuolo’s perfect 3-0 win over Brescia in Serie A.
On Sunday, Parma’s fixture against SPAL kicked off 75 minutes late as they awaited a decision on whether the match would go ahead.
Reports from France by Monday indicated that the French sports ministry had decided matches in Ligue 1 – the country’s top-flight football competition – to be played behind closed doors or in front of no more than 1,000 spectators as a measure to limit the spread of the virus.
Other incidents including the rugby union, England’s men’s and women’s Six Nations matches against Italy, which was scheduled to take place on 14 March and 15 March respectively, were also postponed last week over fears of the deadly virus.
The threat of catching coronavirus has already caused many fixtures in many other countries to be postponed including in Switzerland, the top two divisions fixtures were postponed after the government banned all events involving more than 1,000 people.
Relatively the leagues in Japan and South Korea were also postponed earlier this week.
Many fixture delays across sport have happened due to the virus including Ireland’s Six Nations rugby union international that was scheduled for March 7 was postponed and no new date confirmed.
In Asia, the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix in Shanghai, due to take place on April 19, has been postponed because of the virus while athletics’ World Indoor Championships, scheduled to take place in the Chinese city of Nanjing next month, have been held over until 2021.
From the look of things, the outbreak could also threaten the upcoming Euro competitions in June and the Tokyo Olympics, due for July.
