By Timothy Ojo
The fear of the dreaded coronavirus or COVID-19, has marked the beginning of wisdom for the members of the International Olympic Committee, IOC, as the body meets today and Wednesday to consider the effect which the global epidemic may have on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Japan which, in February, quarantined a cruise ship, has reported at least two deaths from the disease.
Though the Japanese authorities have tried to down-play the likely effects of the presence on their shores on the 2020 Olympics, which their country is hosting, the IOC seems not ready to leave anything to chance.
The IOC is, therefore, putting the global epidemic on the front burner as it begins the crucial meeting today.
The biggest concern in the world of sports is that the mother of all competitions, the Olympics, billed to hold in Tokyo, may be postponed if this outbreak continues to spiral around the world like a whirlwind.
Speculations were rife, Tuesday, that if there was no let in the spread and virulence of the disease, the organisers may consider the possibility of cancelling the games. In the event of this happening, postponement would be unprecedented, as the Olympics has never been cancelled, except when a war was ongoing in a host nation.
One of the biggest tournaments in Qatar, MotoGP already had doubts written all over it, even though it was scheduled to hold in a month’s time. So when the news of its postponement was made, it was as if the whole world was preparing for it.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Sports globally has been suffering from it. Several Sports events have been cancelled or postponed due to fears that this virus may have grave consequences or that this virus may spread more, considering the mammoth crowd these Sports command.
A few casualties of the boomerang effect of this outbreak is the Moto Grand Prix in Qatar and the one billed for Thailand, recently postponed.
“I don’t say it’s cancelled, I just say it is postponed until time allows us to do (the event),” AnutinCharnvirakul, chairman of the Thailand MotoGP organising committee, told AFP.
The Qatar Grand Prix was supposed to be a curtain raiser to the Thailand MotoGP and a coupleof several Grand Prix scheduled to hold this year.
In Rugby, the few matches left in the Six Nations Rugby Union Tournament are in doubts. The organisers have called for an emergency meeting as regards the virus in Paris. The tournament has been put on hold as precaution against the deadly virus.
Football also isn’t left out of the disruption. The league matches in Italy, the country with the highest number of deaths from Coronavirus, 34, has also taken measures, in a bid to try to stop the virus from multiplying.
Several Serie A, Serie B and lower leagues matches have been postponed, or the very best played behind closed doors.
As a matter of fact, the Italian Government recently signed a decree into law that all sporting activities are abruptly stopped, especially in the northern region where the virus has had more casualties.
The Italian Football Association has called an emergency meeting to discuss how they salvage the whole situation.
In Asia, where the Virus started, the J-league, Japan’s football league has been disrupted. Several of the games have been pushed till Mid-March, with the idea that this outbreak would have succumbed. As it stands now, the pointers are clear that the matches would be postponed to later dates.
Sports on a whole is going to be affected by this virus, as a result the economies of the world may just have gash that would take a while to level up. This virus transcends just sports, it is going to affect every facets of life, if not quickly curtailed
