World Indoor Athletics cancelled over Coronavirus outbreak

The World indoor athletics championships due to be held in Nanjing, China on 13-15 March have been called off.

This based on the Press release by the governing body of athletics, the World Athletics. Read here

The World Athletics quoted "the advice from our medical team, who are in contact with the World Health Organisation, is that the spread of the Coronavirus both within China and outside the country is still at a concerning level and no one should be going ahead with any major gathering that can be postponed."

"We have chosen not to cancel the championships as many of our athletes would like this event to take place so we will now work with our athletes."

The World Athletics proposed that the 18th edition of the bi-annual world championship event to be held next year around March.

"Our partners and the Nanjing organising committee to secure a date in 2021 to stage this event."

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Cancellation of Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, Hangzhou China

The Asian Athletics Association (AAA) had canceled the 9th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships scheduled from Feb 12-13 at Hangzhou, China amid fears of the coronavirus outbreak.

In a letter from the president Dahlan Al Hamad to the members of AAA today, he expressed great concern on the accelerating pace of the epidemic virus issues, that appears to have originated in China, spreading rapidly and even crossing borders.

The association said they had requested the Medical Commission to diagnose the issues at hand and recommend their best resolution.

"After much consideration and from the advice of our Medical Commission and our Asian Council Members, we have decided to cancel the Championship this time. The safety of our athletes and officials are our priority."

"The whole world is gravely anguished about this crisis that has claimed many lives and has triggered an emergency amidst a backdrop of caution and stark measures seeking to contain this virus"

"We aim to limit the possibility of transmission of the deadly virus and to protect our Asian Athletics family and friends."

"By this decision, I sincerely believe it will ease the burden of our Chinese counterparts in Organising such a big event amidst the epidemic setbacks and give them ample time to focus on the problems at hand"

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