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Sports events around the world hit by coronavirus pandemic

[March 21, 2020] (Reuters) - Major sports events around the world that have been hit by the coronavirus pandemic:

OLYMPICS

* The Tokyo 2020 Olympics torch lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia was held without spectators.

* Tokyo 2020 organizers received the Olympic flame in a scaled-down handover ceremony that was closed to spectators.

* The Hellenic Olympic Committee suspended the remainder of the torch relay through Greece to avoid attracting crowds.

OLYMPIC TRIALS

* U.S. trials for wrestling (April 4-5) were postponed.

* U.S. Rowing postponed its team trials.

* U.S. diving trials (April 3-5) were postponed. All USA Diving events postponed for next 30 days.

COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT

* The Court of Arbitration for Sport said all cases were being put on hold until May. No in-person hearings will be held before May 1.

NORTH AMERICA

* The NBA suspended its season.

* The NHL suspended its season.

* The MLB further delayed its 2020 season's opening day of March 26 after CDC calls for gatherings of 50 or more people to be canceled or postponed for eight weeks.

* Boston Marathon organizers postpone the race from April 20 to Sept. 14.

* The National Hockey League told players, including those from outside North America, that they can return home and should self-quarantine through March 27, lengthening the period the NHL had said it was pausing its season.

SOCCER

* Euro 2020 was postponed. Europe's flagship tournament will now be staged from June 11 to July 11, 2021.

* This year's Copa America, originally scheduled for June-July in Colombia and Argentina, was postponed to June 11-July 11, 2021.

* FIFA has agreed to delay the first edition of its revamped Club World Cup due to be held in 2021.

* UEFA put all club and national team competitions for men and women on hold until further notice.

* All elite games in England, including the Premier League, Football League and Women's Super League, were suspended until April 30 but the current season can be extended indefinitely.

* Germany's Bundesliga and second division will pause at least until April 2.

* UEFA postponed all Champions League and Europa League matches due to take place between March 17-19.

* South America's two biggest club competitions, the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana, were suspended until at least May 5.

* The CAF postponed two rounds of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers (March 25-31).

* CONCACAF suspended all competitions, including the Champions League and men's Olympic qualifiers.

* The top two tiers of French football -- Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 -- were suspended.

* All matches in Spain's top two divisions were postponed for two weeks.

* U.S. Major League Soccer suspended its season.

* All soccer in the Netherlands was suspended until the end of March.

* FIFA and AFC agreed to postpone Asian World Cup qualifying matches in March and June.

* FIFA postponed South American qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup between March 23-31.

* Spain's Copa del Rey final between Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad (April 18) was postponed.

* New seasons in the Chinese, Japanese and South Korean leagues were postponed.

* A four-team event in Doha featuring Croatia, Portugal, Belgium and Switzerland (March 26-30) was canceled.

* Asian Champions League: Matches involving Chinese clubs Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG were postponed. The start of the knockout rounds was moved back to September.

* The Asian Football Confederation postponed all AFC Cup 2020 matches scheduled for March and April.

* The Brazilian football Confederation suspended all national competitions until further notice.

* The state championships of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, the two biggest in Brazil, were suspended on March 16, the former for 15 days and the latter until further notice.

* All events organized by the Russian Football Union, including Russian Premier League fixtures, between March 17-April 10 were canceled.

* The CAF postponed the African Nations Championship, a national team tournament for home-based players only (Cameroon; April 4–25).

* The Turkish Super Lig, among the last to continue playing matches, was suspended after players complained. Basketball and volleyball leagues in the country were also suspended.

OTHER SPORTS

ATHLETICS

* The Diamond League postponed its first three meetings of the 2020 season due to be held in April and May in Qatar and China.

* The World Athletics Indoor Championships (Nanjing, March 13-15) were postponed. They will be held in the same city from March 19-21, 2021.

* The Paris and Barcelona marathons were postponed.

* The London marathon (April 26), was postponed to Oct. 4.

* The Penn Relays (April 23-25), were canceled for the first time in the event's 125-year history. The Mt. SAC Relays and Florida Relays, also scheduled for April, and the March Texas Relays, were all canceled.

* Kenya's athletics authority ordered the closure of training camps and clubs, hampering athletes' preparations for the Olympics.

BADMINTON

* The Badminton World Federation canceled the last five tournaments in the qualification period for the Olympics, making the All England Open played from March 11-15 the final event to count towards qualification.

BASEBALL

* The final qualification tournament in Taiwan for the Olympics was put back from April to June 17-21, while the March 22-26 qualification event in Arizona was postponed.

* Japan's professional league postponed the start of the season.

BASKETBALL

* Euroleague Basketball suspended all 2019-20 EuroLeague, EuroCup and Euroleague Next Generation Tournament games.

BOXING

* The European, American and final world qualifying boxing tournaments for the Tokyo Olympics were suspended on March 16. The European qualifier in London that was underway and due to run to March 24, ended after the evening session on March 17.

* Anthony Joshua's world heavyweight title defense against Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev at Tottenham Hotspur's stadium on June 20 could be postponed if Spurs need the stadium to complete this season's Premier League fixtures.

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The 'Tokyo 2020 Go' aircraft transporting the Olympic Flame from Greece to Japan, arrives at Japan Air Self-Defense Force Matsushima Base in Higashi-Matsuhsima, Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan March 20, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato

CRICKET

* The last two games of Australia's three-match one-day international series against New Zealand in Sydney and Hobart were canceled.

* Australia and New Zealand's limited-overs tours were postponed.

* The start of the Indian Premier League T20 tournament (March 29) was postponed until April 15.

* The boards of India and South Africa agreed to reschedule a three-match ODI series to a later date.

* England's two-match test series in Sri Lanka scheduled to start on March 19 was postponed.

* New South Wales were named Australia's Sheffield Shield champions after the competition's final round was called off.

* Cricket Ireland and the Bangladesh Cricket Board agreed to postpone three one-day internationals and four Twenty20 games between the teams scheduled for Belfast and England in May.

CYCLING

* Cycling's governing body plans to retroactively use March 3 as the cut-off point for Olympic qualification in mountain bike, BMX Racing and BMX Freestyle.

* The final two stages of the UAE Tour were canceled after two Italian participants tested positive.

* The Paris-Nice cycling race ended a day early after the eighth stage into Nice was canceled.

* The Giro d'Italia, scheduled to start in Budapest, Hungary on May 9, was postponed.

* The Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Tour de Yorkshire Race men's and women's races have been postponed.

* All cycling races up to the end of April have already been canceled and riders in France and Spain, where many are based, have been explicitly told they cannot train outside.

GOLF

* The year's first major, the Masters, was postponed from April 9-12 to "some later date".

* The second major, the May 14-17 PGA Championship, was postponed, with hopes of rescheduling in the summer.

* The Players Championship in Florida was canceled after the first round. The PGA Tour also scrapped all events until at least May 10.

* The Honda LPGA Thailand event and the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore were canceled.

* The next three LPGA Tour events scheduled for Arizona and California were postponed.

* The European Tour has either postponed or canceled

HORSE RACING

* The Grand National festival (April 2-4) was canceled, the Jockey Club said. [L8N2B9A0A]

* The Kentucky Derby, the first jewel in North American horse racing's Triple Crown (May 2) was postponed to Sept. 5.

MOTORSPORT

* Formula One canceled the Australian Grand Prix and postponed the next three races in Bahrain, Vietnam and China.

They hope to start the season in Europe at the end of May, putting the Dutch and Spanish races scheduled for May 3 and 10 in Zandvoort and Barcelona in doubt.

* Four rounds of the MotoGP season -- Qatar, Thailand, Texas and Argentina -- will not go ahead as scheduled.

* NASCAR postponed all race events through May 3, including races at the Atlanta Motor Speedway (March 15) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (March 22), but intends to run all 36 races this season.

* The Le Mans 24 hours race was postponed from June 13-14 to Sept. 19-20.

* The annual 24 Hours Motos, initially postponed from April to September, is now scheduled to take place on Aug. 29–30.

ROWING

* Two World Rowing Cups and the European Olympic Qualification Regatta, all scheduled for Italy, were canceled.

* The annual University Boat Race, set for March 29 on the River Thames in London, was canceled. [L8N2B9A0A]

RUGBY

* Four Six Nations matches were postponed.

* Rugby Europe announced a suspension of all its matches and tournaments from March 13-April 15.

* France's rugby federation suspended all its competitions.

* The European rugby season was suspended after European Professional Club Rugby postponed Champions Cup and Challenge Cup quarter-final matches (April 3-5).

* England's Premiership Rugby season was suspended for five weeks, while England's Rugby Football Union (RFU) suspended all rugby activity until April 14.

* The English Rugby Football League and Super League suspended all fixtures until April 3.

* Super Rugby suspended its season.

SNOOKER

* The World Snooker Championship in Sheffield (April 18-May 4) at the Crucible Theatre, will be re-arranged for July or August.

SWIMMING

* The 2020 European Aquatics Championships that was scheduled to take place from May 11-24 in Budapest, Hungary, has been postponed to August.

TENNIS

* The French Open was postponed until Sept. 20-Oct. 4.

* The ATP and WTA suspended the season through to June 7, affecting the claycourt swing. Tournaments in Madrid, Rome, Munich, Estoril, Geneva, Lyon, Strasbourg and Rabat will be hit.

* The Fed Cup finals (Budapest; April 14-19) were postponed.

WINTER SPORTS

* The International Ski Federation canceled the final races of the men's Alpine skiing World Cup.

* The World Cup finals in Cortina were canceled along with the last three women's races in Are.

* The women's world ice hockey championships in Canada were canceled.

* The speed skating world championships in Seoul were postponed until at least October.

* The March 16-22 world figure skating championships in Montreal were canceled.

(Compiled by Shrivathsa Sridhar, Rohith Nair, Hardik Vyas and Simon Jennings in Bengaluru, Amy Tennery in New York, Andrew Both in Cary, Robert Muller in Prague, Gene Cherry in Raleigh and Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by London editing team)

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