The Chinese leg of the FINA Diving World Series has been cancelled, FINA has posted on its website. The cancellation was tied to the global outbreak of Wuhan Coronavirus by FINA president Cornel Marculescu to the AFP this week. That out break has seen its worst impacts in Hubei Province, China, though the disease is now spreading world-wide.. The stop in Beijing was not scheduled until the weekend of March 6th-8th, more than a month away.
As of posting, more than 250 people have died with more than 12,000 infections confirmed. The outbreak is centered in Hubei Province, which lies about 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) south of Beijing.
Quarantines and travel restrictions have gone up en masse across the East Asian region, including Japan barring all international travelers who have visited Hubei Province. A German Olympic official said that the illness was the “greatest threat” to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, with cases having been confirmed on the island. The outbreak has also led to the cancellation of many mass-gathering events, including sporting events, with fears over safety both for athletes and for spectators gathered in close contact.
Beijing was scheduled to host a stop of the FINA Diving World Series, the 2nd stop in the 4-stop series. The series awards over 1.2 million USD across the stops, leading up to the FINA World Cup in Tokyo in April that serves as a part of the Olympic qualifying process.
Diving World Series 2020 calendar
1. Montreal (CAN) – from February 28 – March 1
2. Beijing (CHN) – from March 6-8
3. Kazan (RUS) – from March 20-22
4. London (GBR) – from March 27-29
Several other international sporting events have been cancelled or postponed over Coronavirus fears:
- The World Athletics Indoor Championships has been postponed for a year, until March 2021
- The opening test event of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, an Alpine Skiing World Cup event in Yanqing scheduled for march, has been cancelled.
- A Winter X Games event scheduled for February 21-23 has been postponed until a yet-unnamed later date.
- The Chinese women’s soccer team has been quarantined in Brisbane, Australia and the Football Federation Australia has delayed ticket sales to upcoming Olympic qualifying matches.
- Asia’s Olympic qualifying tournament in boxing scheduled to be hosted in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak in early February, has been moved to Amman Jordan from March 3-11.
- On Friday, China suspended all domestic football and indefinitely postponed the top-flight Chinese Super League season that was scheduled to begin on February 22.
- A 4-team Olympic qualifying tournament in women’s basketball featuring China, Great Britain, Spain, and South Korea has been moved from Foshan in southern China to Belgrade, Serbia.
The above are premier events cancelled, postponed, or delayed, along with others across the world of sport, including golf, snooker, badminton, skiing.
The virus has also led to many non-sports cancellations and closures; all non-emergency personnel have been cleared by the U.S. State Department to leave the American embassy in Beijing, while Apple has closed all of its stores in China. Many countries, including Israel, have shut down incoming flights from China, and 3 major U.S. airlines (American, Delta, and United) are halting service to the Chinese mainland.