New Delhi: The Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament became the latest sporting event to be affected Monday by the novel coronavirus outbreak. The tournament scheduled to be played April 11 to 18 in Malaysia has been deferred and will now be held September 24 to October 3, the organisers have said. It must be stated here that India who are a regular in the event had pulled out this time as it would have affected their preparation for the Olympics.
“…it is in the best interest of the players, officials and all parties involved that the 29th edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup men’s hockey tournament 2020 to be postponed,” orgainsing committee chairman Dato’ Haji Abd Rahim Bin Md said in a statement.
“The outbreak of COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in Korea and Japan. The health and well-being of the teams, especially Australia, Canada and Japan should be taken into consideration as not to jeopardise their preparation for the Tokyo Olympics,” Dato added.
The organising committee apologised for the inconvenience but said the decision was taken keeping in mind the current crisis across the world. “The decision has been conveyed to FIH (International Hockey Federation), AHF (Asian Hockey Federation), MHC (Malaysia Hockey Confederation) and the participating teams,” the statement further read.
The Azlan Shah Cup is the latest sporting event to be hit by the deadly coronavirus. Formula One’s Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, April 19, the Asian Boxing Qualifiers, the World Table Tennis Championships, due to be held in South Korea from March 22-29 and the World Rugby Sevens Series in Hong Kong and Singapore are some of the global sporting events which have been postponed or shifted due to the coronavirus outbreak.
PTI