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China's General Administration of Sport, in a
policy document published on Thursday, said coaches and athletes
who are still abroad "are not required to return immediately."
If they must return, the body said, they must strictly adhere to
virus-prevention measures.
The administration instructed organizers and leagues not to
invite referees from abroad, and ordered plans for events such
as the 14th Chinese National Winter Games and the 6th Asian
Beach Games to be "carefully adjusted".
The global coronavirus outbreak has severely disrupted sporting
events, both international and domestic, as social distancing
and other prevention measures take precedence. Though China has
drastically reduced its number of new COVID-19 cases since the
peak of the outbreak in the country in February, it has moved
cautiously about resuming sporting events.
South Korea, Japan and Taiwan restarted soccer and baseball
leagues as much as several months earlier. China, however, has
only recently allowed play to resume for its top sports
associations, with the Chinese Basketball Association becoming
the first professional sports league to return to play in June.
The Chinese Super League, the country's premier football league,
will kick off the 2020 season in late July, after a delay of
five months.
Beijing 2022 organizers said there will be more than 20 trials
for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics after December, but
as yet there is no exact timetable, the official Xinhua news
agency reported late on Thursday.
(Reporting by Huizhong Wu; Editing by Se Young Lee and
Christopher Cushing)
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