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Coronavirus in sport: ATP Tour suspended for six weeks, multiple football leagues paused

The outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in the ATP Tour being suspended for six weeks, while the PGA Tour will be played behind closed doors until April 5.

Football in Spain, the Netherlands, the United States and Portugal has been put on hiatus, while Champions League games between Manchester City and Real Madrid, and Juventus and Lyon have been postponed.

A second Serie A player has been confirmed to have contracted coronavirus, while the Utah Jazz announced a second positive test for COVID-19. Donovan Mitchell confirmed he was the latest individual with the infection, while Rudy Gobert is reported to be the other.

We look at the biggest events to have been impacted by the proliferation of the virus.

 

A six-week suspension was implemented by the ATP Tour, which it said came in the wake of the World Health Organization declaring the spread of COVID-19 constituted a pandemic and 30-day travel restrictions imposed by the United States.

ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said: "This is not a decision that was taken lightly and it represents a great loss for our tournaments, players, and fans worldwide. However, we believe this is the responsible action needed at this time in order to protect the health and safety of our players, staff, the wider tennis community and general public health in the face of this global pandemic."

The WTA Tour was yet to follow suit, but the Miami Open has been scratched from its schedule after a state of emergency was declared in Miami-Dade County.

Following the news that LaLiga had suspended its next two matchdays and Real Madrid had established a self-imposed quarantine in the wake of one of their basketball players testing positive for COVID-19, Los Blancos' Champions League last-16 second leg against Manchester City on Tuesday was postponed.

The meeting between Juventus and Lyon has also been pushed back after Daniele Rugani was confirmed to have contracted coronavirus and the Serie A champions implemented isolation procedures.

UEFA will hold a videoconference with European football stakeholders on Tuesday to discuss the response to the outbreak. The talks will include all domestic and European competitions, including Euro 2020.

Bosnia-Herzegovina has requested its Euro 2020 play-off against Northern Ireland on March 26 be postponed, while Denmark expects its friendly against England five days later to be cancelled.

One game that has been cancelled is Wales' friendly against the United States on March 30.

Sampdoria announced Manolo Gabbiadini was the second professional Serie A player to test positive. The club said he had "a slight fever, but is otherwise fine". On Sunday Gabbiadini played 61 minutes against Hellas Verona, who also activated isolation procedures as a result.

Hannover confirmed a second case of coronavirus in their squad, with Jannes Horn following Timo Hubers in testing positive. All players from the German team will be under home quarantine for the next 14 days, with the club asking for their upcoming 2.Bundesliga games against Dynamo Dresden and Osnabruck to be called off.

Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers revealed three of his players have shown symptoms of coronavirus and have been isolated from their team-mates. Stats Perform understands all players put into isolation have only displayed mild symptoms, meaning they have not met the threshold to be tested for the virus.

In the Netherlands, all football has been cancelled until March 31. This includes amateur and professional games, as well as the national team's fixtures against the USA and Spain.

Portugal's Primeira Liga and the CONCACAF Champions League have been postponed for an indefinite period, while MLS has been suspended for the next 30 days.

Elsewhere in the USA, the NHL season has been paused. Comissioner Gary Bettman said: "Following last night's news that an NBA player has tested positive for coronavirus - and given that our leagues share so many facilities and locker rooms and it now seems likely that some member of the NHL community would test positive at some point - it is no longer appropriate to try to continue to play games at this time."

The PGA Tourwill continue as scheduled, though fans will be barred from attending events starting from Friday at the Players Championship until the Texas Open, which finishes on April 5.

However, the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship has been cancelled due to potential logistical issues associated with players and staff travelling internationally.

The Washington Wizards have imposed self-isolation on players, coaches and basketball operations personnel for three to four days. The Wizards played the Jazz – who have confirmed two cases of coronavirus among their roster – on February 29 and the New York Knicks on March 10. The Knicks had a game with Utah six days before the Wizards did.

The Jazz's second positive test came after their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday was called off. Mitchell said on Instagram: "Thanks to everyone who has been reaching out since hearing the news about my positive test. We are all learning more about the seriousness of this situation and hopefully people can continue to educate themselves and realise that they need to behave responsibly both for their own health and for the well being of those around them."

After the NCAA announced no fans would be permitted at March Madness, the American, Atlantic 10, C-USA, MAC, America East, Big East, Big Sky and WAC announced their conference tournaments had been cancelled.

The Washington Redskins became the first NFL team to announce a change in protocol in relation to the coronavirus. Redskins owner Dan Snyder said: "Due to health and travel concerns surrounding COVID-19, Redskins have informed all coaches and scouts to suspend all travel until further notice."

Promoters Top Rank have confirmed their upcoming boxing shows at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden will go ahead behind closed doors.

Shakur Stevenson is scheduled to defend his WBO featherweight world title against Miguel Marriaga in the main event on Friday's card in New York, while Michael Conlan headlines next Tuesday when he takes on Belmar Preciado in a 10-round contest.

The remaining two ODIs between India and South Africa will also be played behind closed doors, the International Cricket Council announced. There will also be no fans at Pakistan Super League games in Karachi.

In rugby union, the Pro14 has been indefinitely suspended. A statement said: "Resumption of the 2019-20 season will now become a matter of constant review. To this point Pro14 Rugby has ensured that it has the latest information and guidance made available by the local and national authorities via our participating unions in the UK, Ireland, Italy and South Africa."

However, the quarter-finals in the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup remain set to go ahead as planned.

The next two NASCAR events at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway over the next two weekends will be undertaken behind closed doors.

Coronavirus in sport: Masters and Giro latest high-profile events postponed

All of Europe's top five leagues have now been suspended, as the Bundesliga followed Serie A, LaLiga, Ligue 1 and the Premier League in calling a halt to proceedings just hours before its latest round of fixtures was due to kick off.

Golf's first major, the Masters, will not take place on April 9 as initially scheduled, while the Giro d'Italia, the final Six Nations match between Wales and Scotland, and marathons in London and Boston have all been affected by COVID-19, too.

With the number of confirmed cases worldwide now totalling over 140,000, we take a look at the latest round of postponements.

 

After the PGA Tour cancelled all events leading up the Masters, all eyes were on whether the prestigious event at Augusta National Golf Club would be called off until further notice. That news arrived on Friday, with organisers saying it was "appropriate under these unique circumstances".

With around four hours to go before the first Bundesligagame of matchday 26, the league was finally suspended due to the growing number of COVID-19 cases in Germany.

Defender Timo Hubers, who plays for 2. Bundesliga side Hannover, was one of the first players across Europe to test positive for the virus, and Paderborn, who had been due to Fortuna Dusseldorf on Friday night, were waiting on tests results for their players when news came down from the league.

Clubs will meet again on Monday, with the league advising a suspension until April 2.

World Cup qualifiers in Africa were suspended, while European clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona have stopped their players from training at their facilities for the time being.

As Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba encouraged people to "dab to beat coronavirus" and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp backed the decision to postpone the Premier League, Serie A clubs Sampdoria and Fiorentina reported positive cases involving their players in Italy, one of the worst-affected countries.

The country's major cycling race, the Giro d'Italia, will not begin as scheduled on May 9 as Hungary said it was unwilling to host the first three stages. The whole race was subsequently postponed.

Six Nations contest between Italy and England in Rome, originally slated for Saturday, had already been called off, and the only fixture of the tournament not to be postponed was put back indefinitely on Friday. Wales' clash with Scotland in Cardiff was finally called off the day before it was set to take place, while Sunday's Premiership Rugby Cup final between Sale Sharks and Harlequins has also been postponed.

South Africa's ODI tour of India will be rescheduled for another time, the first match having been washed out on Thursday, while the Boston Marathon will now take place on September 14. The new date for the London Marathon is October 4.

Elsewhere, NASCAR has postponed races in Atlanta and Miami over the next two weekends. Those races were initially going to be held without fans. All IndyCar Seriesraces through April have been cancelled.

India Thrash West Indies Women by 211 Runs in First ODI

India's dominance was on full display in the first One Day International (ODI) against the West Indies Women on Sunday, as they cruised to a commanding 211-run victory. India posted a formidable total of 314 for 9, with key contributions from Smriti Mandhana (91) and Harmanpreet Kaur (34), while Renuka Singh's exceptional 5-29 dismantled the West Indies' batting line-up, sending them crashing to just 103 all out.

On this day in sport: LeBron rises with the Heat, the Panenka penalty is born

James was once again the king of Miami after leading the Heat to NBA glory in a thrilling series against the San Antonio Spurs. 

New Zealand made history at the first Rugby World Cup, while this day also saw Australia completely dominant in cricket's showpiece event.

Look back at some fond moments from years gone by on this day. 


1976 - The Panenka is born as Czechoslovakia celebrate

Defending European champions and reigning World Cup holders West Germany were overwhelming favourites for the final of Euro 1976. 

While Jan Svehlik and Karol Dobias put Czechoslovakia into a two-goal lead after 25 minutes, Dieter Muller and Bernd Holzenbein both scored to force extra-time in a 2-2 draw. 

When the additional minutes could not split the teams, a penalty shoot-out was required. Uli Hoeness' miss presented Antonin Panenka with a golden opportunity to seal glory.

His long run-up and delicate chip deceived goalkeeper Sepp Maier, leading to the birth of the famous Panenka penalty and earning a 5-3 victory shoot-out victory.


1987 - New Zealand win first final 

A near 50,000-strong crowd roared New Zealand on to victory on home soil at Eden Park in the first ever Rugby World Cup final. 

The fearsome All Blacks were too good for Scotland and Wales in the previous knockout rounds, but France had stunned Australia to provide hope of an upset. 

Instead, it was one-way traffic. Michael Jones, captain David Kirk and John Kirwan scored tries in a convincing 29-9 win over Les Bleus.  

Surprisingly, New Zealand would not be crowned champions again until 2011. 


1999 – Australia Lord it over Pakistan

The 1999 Cricket World Cup final was about as one-sided as it gets as Australia thrashed Pakistan by eight wickets. 

An enigmatic Pakistan side were skittled for a meagre 132 in 39 overs after surprisingly opting to bat first at Lord's, leg-spinner Shane Warne returning figures of 4-33. 

Australia – led by Steve Waugh - rattled off the chase with a whopping 29.5 overs to spare, Adam Gilchrist celebrating a half-century in the process. 

It marked the first of three consecutive World Cup triumphs for the Australians, as they reigned again under the captaincy of Ricky Ponting in both 2003 and 2007. 


2013 – LeBron's Heat reign again after Spurs epic

For the second straight year, LeBron James was named NBA Finals MVP as the Miami Heat retained their title by defeating the Spurs. 

It was the third straight year a star-studded Heat roster including Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh had made it through to the Finals. 

A see-saw series had seen the Spurs lead on three occasions but a dramatic 103-100 overtime win in Game 6, considered by many to be one of the great playoff contests in NBA history, set up a decider. 

James duly put up a game-high 37 points and provided 12 rebounds and four assists in a 95-88 triumph. 

The Spurs would gain revenge a year later, which proved to be James' last season in Miami as he returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team who had drafted him first overall in 2003.