Other Sports
29th March
Team USA weighing roster alternatives in event of spring Olympics
USA Basketball is weighing alternative roster options in the event of a potential conflict between the delayed Tokyo Olympics and the NBA season. If the postponed Games are moved from a July 2020 start to...
28th March
NHL players discuss possible playoff formats
With the NHL season on an indefinite hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, players have plenty of time to ponder the potential return of the sport. With it looking increasingly likely that a full 82-game regular season won’t be completed, attention is turning to how the playoffs might look. In a Friday conference call involving...
Kavika vows not to repeat mistakes
WORLD Boxing Foundation Australasian heavyweight champion James Singh and Jonasa Kavika will square off for the title of Fiji heavyweight champion later this year. “I wont make the same mistakes again,” said Kavika. The two last met for the World Boxing Foundation Australasian title in November last year where Singh stopped Kavika in a seventh...
Olympic qualification process and late season being studied: Coe
(Reuters) – World Athletics is working to restart a shuttered athletics season and studying any changes that may be needed in the qualifying process for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics, president Seb Coe said on Friday. The governing body is hoping to offer a series of meetings that may begin in August and run to October...
Cricket: ICC postpones World Cup qualifiers due to coronavirus
MUMBAI (Reuters) – The International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Thursday that all qualifying events for the 2021 Twenty20 World Cup and 50-overs version in 2023 that were scheduled to be held before June 30 have been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The flu-like virus has infected more than 470,800 people around the world...
Athletes qualified for Tokyo 2020 to keep spots in 2021
Athletes already qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before the Games were postponed will get to keep their spots in the rescheduled 2021 competition. About 6,200 of the 11,000 scheduled participants had already secured their positions before the global coronavirus pandemic forced the postponement, which was made official Tuesday. Sebastian Coe, president of the International...
27th March
Nemani welcomes postponement decision
THE permanent secretary for the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Maritino Nemani has welcomed the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics Games in Japan. “I believe it was the right decision which everyone should support,” the former national football captain said. “In light of the devastation COVID-19 has brought globally, it makes sense...
Moana disappointed with cancellation of Olympics
FIJI Swimming athlete Moana Wind is saddened by the news of the Olympics Games being cancelled because of the effects of COVID-19. The Fiji Sportswoman of the Year who is aiming for a spot in the Swimming Fiji team to the Olympics and is currently in New Zealand training as part of her buildup for...
LeBron talks about virus’ impact on NBA in podcast
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James shed light on a variety of topics facing the NBA should it attempt to resume the 2019-20 season later this year. Appearing on the Road Trippin’ podcast, James expressed concerns for NBA players competing against someone who was diagnosed with the coronavirus. “So what happens when a guy who...
Weeks of anguish and a ‘black box’: Inside Tokyo’s decision to delay the Olympics
TOKYO/LAUSANNE (Reuters) – Officials in charge of staging Tokyo’s Olympic Games crowded around a low table inside Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s residence late Tuesday, wincing as they spoke by phone with the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Minutes later, Abe emerged to inform a gaggle of reporters that he had just spoken with...
IOC working toward July-August Olympics in 2021: Yomiuri
TOKYO (Reuters) – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is working with sports bodies to arrange a July-August window for the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and hopes to confirm the schedule within a month, Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper reported on Thursday. John Coates, the IOC’s Coordination Commission chief for Tokyo, told the Yomiuri the Games would...
26th March
Fiji’s Olympic title defence postponed for a year
SUVA, 26 MARCH 2020 (RUGBY PASS) – Fiji will have to wait an extra year to defend their Olympic Sevens title after Tokyo Games officials decided to postpone the event until summer 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Fijians charged to glory in the Rio heat when the 2016 Olympics were held in Brazil,...
Federer donates one million Swiss Francs to vulnerable families
(Reuters) – Roger Federer has joined the list of sports stars helping out the needy during the coronavirus pandemic, with the former world number one and his wife donating one million Swiss Francs ($1.02 million) to vulnerable families in his native Switzerland. Barcelona forward Lionel Messi and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola had each donated...
O’Connor and Baber support IOC decision
Fiji Rugby CEO John O’Connor together with Fiji Airways Fijian 7s head coach Gareth Baber have supported the decision made by the International Olympic Committee to postpone the 2020 Olympic Games in light of the novel coronavirus pandemic. O’Connor says with World Rugby also putting their hands behind IOC, the decision has been made to...
Nemani welcomes postponement of 2020 Summer Olympics
Ministry of Youth and Sports permanent secretary Nemani Maritino has welcomed the news regarding the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics Games. Nemani said he believed it was the right decision by the organisers to postpone the games. The former national football captain said while he was sad to hear of the postponement,...
76ers/Devils owner changes mind, won’t cut salaries
A day after announcing a pay cut for employees, the owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils changed his mind Tuesday under public pressure. Billionaire Josh Harris issued a press release, announcing the reversal. On Monday, Harris’ company, Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, had notified employees that they would be hit with temporary...
World champion Lyles guards his health in ‘scary’ times
(Reuters) – With allergies and asthma, world 200 metres champion Noah Lyles believes he is “kind of a risk factor” as the coronavirus pandemic spreads. The American sprinter is keeping a close eye on his diet and washing his hands constantly, he told a teleconference on Tuesday. “It is kind of a little bit scary...
Players accept games may have to take place without fans – PFA’s Barnes
(Reuters) – Players have accepted that playing games in closed stadiums might be the only way to complete the English domestic league season, Bobby Barnes, deputy chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), has said. English soccer has been suspended until at least April 30 due to the coronavirus crisis, although the Football Association,...
Scottish FA tells clubs to stop holding training sessions
(Reuters) – The Scottish Football Association (SFA) has urged clubs to stop conducting training sessions and adhere to government guidelines on the coronavirus crisis. Following a meeting of their joint response group, the SFA has reminded member clubs “in the strongest possible terms” to “desist” training activities and follow the social distancing advice outlined by...
Koeman turns national team focus to September
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman expects international matches scheduled for late May and early June to be scrapped due to the coronavirus outbreak and sees September as a more likely window for fixtures to resume. With much of Europe on lockdown to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus, the Netherlands’ internationals...
‘Heartbroken’ Australian athletes face up to Olympic reality
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australian athletes were feeling a mixture of regret and relief on Tuesday following their national Olympic committee’s decision to pull out of the 2020 Tokyo Games due to the coronavirus, while the country’s top soccer competition also fell victim to the outbreak. The Australian Olympic Committee said on Monday that the coronavirus...
Soccer star Ronaldo donates equipment to Portuguese hospitals fighting coronavirus
LISBON (Reuters) – Cristiano Ronaldo and football agent Jorge Mendes joined forces on Tuesday to donate lifesaving equipment to Portuguese hospitals struggling to treat patients with coronavirus. The two will donate equipment for two wards at Lisbon’s Santa Maria hospital, providing the wards with 10 beds each, ventilators, heart monitors, infusion pumps and syringes, the...
25th March
First coronavirus case confirmed at Bergamo-based Atalanta
(Reuters) – Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Sportiello has tested positive for coronavirus, taking the number of confirmed cases among players in Italy’s top soccer league Serie A to 15 on Tuesday. “Marco is currently asymptomatic,” said a club statement. “The preventative quarantine, which Marco and all the other first-team players were placed in, will end on...
Skateboarders to use Games delay to win fans for debut sport
(Reuters) – Skateboarders have waited a long time for their first appearance in the Olympics but rather than be despondent over the one-year delay announced on Tuesday, one top-ranked contender said it would give the sport more time to win over fans. “I think everyone is really excited that skateboarding was going to be in...
Reaction to postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
LONDON (Reuters) – Athletes, national associations and sporting federations from around the world reacted with sadness, relief and mainly goodwill to the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Tuesday because of the coronavirus pandemic. After weeks of speculation and mounting criticism at the delay in announcing a postponement, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe...
In coronavirus-hit world, sponsors to stand by delayed Olympics
(Reuters) – Major corporate sponsors of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are standing by the International Olympic Committee after the Games were postponed and experts familiar with the deals said the companies would not likely seek the return of billions of dollars committed to the agreements. Fourteen global companies including Coca-Cola Co (KO.N), Procter & Gamble...
UEFA formally postpones Champions League, Europa League finals
BERN (Reuters) – This season’s Champions League, Europa League and women’s Champions League finals scheduled for May have been formally postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, European soccer’s governing body UEFA said on Tuesday. All three competitions are currently suspended along with almost every European domestic league because of the coronavirus while UEFA last week...
Players accept games may have to take place without fans – PFA’s Barnes
(Reuters) – Players have accepted that playing games in closed stadiums might be the only way to complete the English domestic league season, Bobby Barnes, deputy chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), has said. English soccer has been suspended until at least April 30 due to the coronavirus crisis, although the Football Association,...
Scottish FA tells clubs to stop holding training sessions
(Reuters) – The Scottish Football Association (SFA) has urged clubs to stop conducting training sessions and adhere to government guidelines on the coronavirus crisis. Following a meeting of their joint response group, the SFA has reminded member clubs “in the strongest possible terms” to “desist” training activities and follow the social distancing advice outlined by...
NASCAR president: Plan is to still run 36-race schedule
NASCAR President Steve Phelps held a teleconference with the sport’s media Tuesday addressing questions and reassuring that the hope is, yes, the full season’s 36 points races will be run, with the safety of the sport’s fans and its participants of utmost importance during the current worldwide COVID-19 virus pandemic. NASCAR announced Monday that races...
