Coronavirus: All the conferences and sporting fixtures affected by outbreak fears
Friday 14 February 2020 16:44, UK
From Stormzy concerts to football games, the deadly outbreak of coronavirus has forced dozens of events to be cancelled or postponed, as authorities seek to contain the spread of the virus.
The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was the latest to announce that the technology conference was cancelled after several big brands - including Facebook and Amazon - backed out of attending, citing health risk concerns.
Meanwhile, organisers of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo say they plan to go ahead with the games, despite several of its qualifying fixtures needing to be rescheduled.
Here, we have a list of events that have been postponed, rescheduled or called off.
Concerts
- Stormzy has rescheduled the Asia leg of his Heavy Is The Head tour
Conferences
- Mobile World Congress - the major technology show gathers around 100,000 people to Barcelona every year, but the event scheduled on 24-27 February has been cancelled.
Athletics
- Indoor World Athletics Championships - The sporting competition was due to take place in Nanjing, China, from 13-15 March but has been postponed for 12 months.
- Asian Indoor Athletics Championships - Under original plans, the tournament in Hangzhou, China, would have concluded on Thursday, but organisers cancelled the event.
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Football
- 2020 Chinese football season - The Chinese Football Association said it was suspending football matches at all levels and would be delaying the start to the season. It was due to begin next week and a new start date is yet to be announced.
- Asian Champions League matches - Scheduled games involving Chinese clubs have been postponed.
- Olympic qualifying tournament - A competition involving women's teams from China, Australia, Taiwan and Thailand was due to be played in Wuhan, but has now moved to Australia.
- AFC Cup 2020 - Several preliminary stage fixtures have been postponed until April due to travel restrictions in a number of participating countries.
Motor racing
- Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix - Race organisers confirmed the April meet would be postponed, but did not give a new date.
- Formula E - The electric motor racing series has cancelled plans for a March event in Sanya, China.
Rugby
- HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series - The international tournament said it would reschedule its rounds in Hong Kong and Singapore for the end of the series in October.
Tennis
- Fed Cup Asia/Oceania Group I - The women's event, organised by the International Tennis Federation, was due to feature China, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea and Uzbekistan, but was eventually cancelled earlier this month.
Badminton
China Masters - Several players withdrew, leading to the event in Hainan, China, to be abandoned.
- Asia Team Championships - China and Hong Kong teams were forced to withdraw from the tournament, which is being held in Manila, Philippines.
Boxing
- Tokyo Olympic qualifiers - Qualifiers for teams in Asia and Oceania will now take place in Jordan in March after an event in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, was cancelled.
Basketball
- Tokyo Olympic qualifiers - Events scheduled earlier this month in Foshan, China, were moved to Belgrade, Serbia.
- FIBA Asia Cup 2021 - A qualifying match between China and Malaysia on 24 February has been postponed.
Golf
Blue Bay LPGA - The elite women's tournament was due to be held in Hainan, China, next month, but has been cancelled.
- PGA Tour Series-China -The start to the 2020 series has been delayed by two months, meaning there will only be 10 tournaments in the season instead of 14.
Hockey
- Hockey Pro League - Matches scheduled next month between China and Australia have been cancelled.