All soccer matches in India are suspended until the end of this month. Meanwhile, domestic cricket matches in the country are indefinitely put on hold. These announcements were made because of the advice from the Ministry of Health and the government itself.
According to the All India Football Federation of the AIFF, “All footballing activities under the aegis of AIFF stay suspended till March 31. The AIFF will take a stock of the situation in the last week of March, and take a decision abiding by directives from relevant authorities at that juncture.”
Only the Indian Super League appears to be pushing through on Saturday. However, the matches will push through in Goa without any audiences or spectators.
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Meanwhile, the IPL is also suspended until April 15. For weeks, people have been waiting for what the fate of the IPL will be. At first, the Board of Control for Cricket in India or the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly appeared certain that the IPL will push through on its original start date, which is on March 29.
“We met with the owners, to tell them how it can happen and where do we stand at the moment. At the moment, it is just postponed. We will assess the situation,” according to Ganguly.
The ODI series against South Africa has also been called off by the cricket board. The BCCI has actually canceled all domestic matches until further notice. The board is known to be closely monitoring the situation.
However, the spread of the coronavirus has become more serious. The World Health Organization has now called it a pandemic and the league has no choice but to obey the advice of the Ministry of Health and the local government.
Ganguly said in a statement, “Safety is most important for the players and at the moment (with) what’s going around in the world and India with the government directives this is all we can do. We have postponed remaining domestic matches.”
Ganguly also explained that the IPL season may also be shortened. He explained, “If it (IPL) is (postponed till) Apr 15, then, in any case, 15 days are gone, it has to be a truncated one. How truncated, how many games, I can’t say at the moment.”
“It will be re-assessed every week. I can’t say at the moment (about any deadline). It has to be worked around. As much as we want to host the IPL, we also need to be careful about the security,” Ganguly also said.
When the situation gets more controlled and better, it is likely that the canceled matches will then push through. However, people are becoming more vigilant about the virus that it’s possible that they will still choose to stay home until the situation around the world gets better.
It’s still possible that some matches would push through Cricket-Betting reported, with closed doors and that’s fine as live streaming can still help fans witness the matches. Online sports betting is also a solution for the punters who’d like to place bets despite the threat of the virus.
Currently, there are over 140,000 reported cases of the virus worldwide. Over 4,000 deaths related to the virus are is also recorded. India now has over 80 cases and 2 deaths. Over 4,000 people in the country are under investigation.
Outside India, many more sports and events are also canceled or postponed. The NBA has already suspended its remaining games until further notice. This is after it was found that one of the players of Utah Jazz tested positive for the coronavirus.
The MLB is also not exempted. The league has already canceled the rest of the spring training and the start of the event itself will be moved by at least two weeks. Another announcement will be made when it comes to when the season will really start.
The Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark issued a statement about this and said that the players are disappointed that they won’t be able to compete on the field, but they also understand the importance of public health and safety.
The majority of the scheduled football matches in Europe are also canceled. The remaining matches of this season ware postponed until April 3 at the earliest date. This was called for when it was reported that the coach of Arsenal FC Mikel Arteta and Chelsea’s Callum Hudson Odoi came out positive with the virus.
Coach Arteta tweeted last week that he was already feeling better and congratulated the Premier League for making the right decision. The first EPL match that was canceled was last Wednesday’s match between Manchester City and Arsenal. For now, the players are also in self-isolation after reporting symptoms.
