The Australian Grand Prix has been called off, two senior Formula 1 sources have said. There has been no official confirmation from F1 or governing body the FIA but the news follows a McLaren team member testing positive for coronavirus. The situation has rapidly developed throughout Thursday night in Melbourne but an announcement that the race will not take place is expected. The decision throws into doubt the rest of the Formula 1 season.
The International Olympic Committee has insisted the Tokyo 2020 Games will go ahead as the Olympic torch was lit in ancient Olympia. Thursday’s ceremony in Greece was the first since 1984 to be held without spectators because of the ongoing concern over coronavirus. IOC president Thomas Bach said organisers had “outstanding support and co-operation on all levels of government”. The Games are due to start on 24 July.
Three Leicester City first-team players have self-isolated after showing symptoms of coronavirus and “have been kept away from the rest of the squad”, manager Brendan Rodgers has said. Rodgers did not specify which players had been quarantined but added that the club had “followed procedures”. The Foxes are due to play Watford at Vicarage Road in the Premier League on Saturday.
The second leg of Manchester City’s last-16 second leg Champions League tie against Real Madrid, scheduled for Tuesday 17 March, has been postponed.
Chilean duo Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal will be quarantined when they return to the country ahead of their World Cup qualifier at home to Colombia on April 1.
Electric motorsport series Formula E is seeking to expand its operations in Africa, the sport’s founder Alejandro Agag said. The series currently has just one race in Africa – with Morocco’s Marrakesh hosting one of the season’s 14 rounds – but this could be two within the next “12-24 months”. The championship has not featured an African driver since it started in 2014, but there are also plans to change this.
Football’s world governing body FIFA has postponed its Congress in Ethiopia, scheduled to take place in June, by three months owing to the outbreak of the coronavirus. The Congress has been set to take place in the capital Addis Ababa with events between 3-5 June, the day on which the Congress had been set to take place. This has now been postponed until 18 September.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has chosen to maintain the schedule of all its competitions despite the outbreak of coronavirus, which was labelled a pandemic on Wednesday. Some 48 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers are set to take place in nearly 50 countries across the continent at the end of March. Meanwhile, the African Nations Championship (CHAN) is scheduled to take place in Cameroon between 4-25 April.
The Europa League ties between Sevilla and Roma in Spain and Inter Milan’s against Getafe in Italy have been postponed because of coronavirus. Both last-16 first-leg games were due to be played behind closed doors on Thursday but have been called off after Spanish authorities imposed travel restrictions between Spain and Italy. UEFA said it will communicate further decisions on both games in due course. Roma had already said they would not be travelling to Seville.
The NBA has announced that all matches will be suspended from Thursday until further notice, after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for coronavirus. The announcement was made just before the Jazz game against the Oklahoma Thunder was due to start on Wednesday. The NBA said the player who tested positive was not at the game. “The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic,” a statement said. The Jazz vs Thunder game was postponed.
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