Asian Indoor Championship 2020 cancelled  due to Novel Coronavirus outbreak

Asian Indoor Athletics Championship 2020 has been the latest sporting event to be cancelled due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Chinese city Wuhan.

The Asian Indoor Athletics championship 2020 was set to be held in two weeks’ time (February 12 to 13) in Hangzhou, China which is 700 km away from Wuhan, ground zero for the novel corona outbreak.  Seven of Sri Lanka’s South Asian Game’s Gold medal winners were selected to participate in the championship.

The Asian Athletics Association had come to decision on Sunday evening over emergency telephone conference.

As we reported yesterday , ‘The General Administration of Sport’, China’s government agency responsible for sports in mainland China had instructed the country’s sports associations to consider canceling upcoming events as far as till April in response to the ongoing outbreak though individual organizers yet to made official statements when it comes to several other international sporting events.

The world governing body of Athletics, ‘World Athletics’,  said they are “monitoring this situation carefully and is in close contact with the World Health Organisation .Should any of their advice affect plans for the World Indoor Championships Nanjing 2020” .

The World Indoor Athletics Championship to be held from March 13 to 15 in Nanjing China, which is 500km away from Wuhan.

So far, Olympic qualifying events of boxing and women’s football, which were due to held in February in the quarantined city of Wuhan were officially canceled. Other events such as the Chinese Super League football tournament, AFC Champion League qualifier on the January 28, and a Fifa World Cup 2022 qualifier between China and the Maldives on March 26 could also affect from the situation.

Chinese authorities have shut down 13 cities so far, which has quarantined nearly 35 million people to control the outbreak. Extreme health measures have been taken place specially with increased traveling time due to China’s Lunar new year, which falls on Sunday 25^th   The death toll has risen to 56 and infected at least  2000 as of sunday, as health authorities around the world took action to prevent a global pandemic.

The disease has now detected in Australia, Malaysia, Nepal, Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, France, Nepal , United States, and Japan, where the 2020 Olympic Games will be held.

Sri Lanka athletes already suffered from a dengue epidemic last December during the South Asian Games, where seven athletes were hospitalized in Nepal, with two were treated at the intensive care unit while several others suffered from fever before and after the SAG Competitions.