As coronavirus pandemic brings world to a standstill, the affect has been felt far and wide. The health emergencies in various countries has halted the sports landscape big time.
Since COVID-19 spread across the globe, league after league, organisation after organisation, came to the unavoidable conclusion that the continued staging of sports events would be an irresponsible health risk in the wake of virus outbreak, what is now officially termed a pandemic.
The two biggest casualties by far of the crises has been the Tokyo Olympics and UEFA Euro.
The traditional Olympic flame lighting ceremony in Olympia, Greece, to mark the start of the 2020 Summer Olympics torch relay was held on March 12 without spectators.
On March 24, it was announced that the Summer Olympics would be postponed to 2021, still to be held in Tokyo. Six days later, the Olympics made a reschedule date to twelve months from the original scheduled dates of 24 July to 9 August 2020, to 23 July to 8 August 2021.?
This summer¡¯s European Championship has been postponed until 2021 to allow time for all Europe¡¯s club competitions to be completed by 30 June if at all possible,?UEFA?decided last month, as the football authorities grapple with the unprecedented disruption of the coronavirus pandemic.
The postponement of the Euros to proposed dates of Friday 11 June until Sunday 11 July 2021 and the likely postponement of next summer¡¯s women¡¯s Euros to 2022 were two of a flurry of measures announced on a day when football¡¯s authorities showed determination to give leadership at a time the UEFA president, Aleksander Ceferin, called ¡°the biggest crisis that football faced in its history¡±.
Tennis' premier Wimbledon Championships 2020?has also been canceled?due to public health concerns linked to the coronavirus epidemic.?
The Grand Slam tennis tournament was scheduled to be held from Monday, June 29 through Sunday, July 12.?The 134th tournament will now be held June 28-July 11, 2021.
The future of Indian Premier League's (IPL) season 13 also looks to be bleak. After the tournament was postponed till April 15, it now looks unlikely that this year's edition will begin in April. There is also high chances of the season being cancelled.?
On the other hand, UEFA Champions League and Europa League are still suspended and look unlucky to begin at least before May.?