Asian sport in turmoil from SARS outbreak
HONG KONG (AFP) Sport across Asia
has been thrown into turmoil by the escalating SARS crisis, with
dozens of events already postponed or cancelled and several others
under threat.
Football has been the biggest sporting casualty of the flu-like
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which has claimed more than
270 lives and infected around 5,000 people in some 30 countries.
The Asian women's championship, due to take place in Thailand from 17 April was postponed earlier this month, and a series of Olympic qualifiers have also been put on hold.
Asia's richest club tournament the AFC Champions League has also been disrupted with the second leg of Chinese side Dalian Shide's semi-final in limbo after opponents Al Ain expressed concern about travelling to China.
Finding new dates for the 14-team Asian women's championship, Champions League and Olympic qualifiers will dominate the agenda when the AFC's competitions committee meet in Doha, Qatar from 27-28 April.
But no new dates will be found for a string of cancelled end-of-season tours to the region by clubs and national teams from Europe.
English Premiership side Everton scrapped their tour to southern China where the virus is believed to have originated six months ago planned for May citing fears over SARS.
"The simple truth is that we could not take the risk of exposing anyone be they players, officials or supporters to the possibility of infection by the SARS virus," Everton spokesman Ian Ross said.
Aston Villa, who were also planning a tour of China, quickly followed Everton's lead and cancelled.
Other tours by European clubs are also in doubt, with Germany's Bayern Munich reported to be mulling pulling out of a planned trip to China and Birmingham City reconsidering their participation in a four-team tournament in Malaysia in July.
There has been no word from English side Liverpool on whether they still plan to press ahead with a July visit to Hong Kong, one of the worst hit SARS areas and declared a no-go zone by the World Health Organisation.
Portugal decided to look elsewhere for summer opposition, calling off games against Japan and South Korea due to take place in June as part of a tour of the Far East.
In the longer term, the women's World Cup,
to be hosted by China in September and October and featuring 16
teams, could also end up being affected by the SARS crisis.
So far football's world governing body FIFA has said it plans
to go ahead with the competition, although the gala draw due to
take place in Wuhan on 24 May was cancelled earier this month.
"This preventive measure has been taken in the interests of the health of those taking part in the draw," said FIFA.
While football's problems from SARS have received more attention than others, the disease has wreaked havoc across a range of sports, with racing, rugby, tennis, basketball and volleyball all suffering.
The Singapore leg of racing's world series, the Singapore International Cup, was cancelled on Tuesday, while the Hong Kong leg the Queen Elizabeth II Cup has seen its international field reduced because of SARS fears.
Seven-a-side rugby tournaments in Beijing and Singapore meanwhile have both been axed from this year's IRB's world series schedule.
An Asian invitational basketball tournament
in Manila in July and August is also at risk from SARS, the hosts
said. There have been four confirmed SARS cases in the
Philippines, including two deaths.
The International Ice Hockey Federation meanwhile cancelled the women's world championships in Beijing because of the disease.
Outgoing tours by sports teams from SARS
hotspots have also been affected.
A tour of the United States by China's junior volleyball team
was cancelled amid US concerns over the health of athletes.
"While cancelling is unfortunate, it was the only realistic option at this time," said USA Volleyball spokesman Tom Pingel. "In no way did we want to take a chance on exposing anyone to a disease that is so unknown."
Hong Kong's rugby team were barred from
taking part by organisers of the Under-19 World Cup in France
before officials relented and allowed the team to compete.
Multi-sports events in Asia-Pacific have not been spared either.
On Wednesday in Australia the Northern Territory government cancelled the 2003 Arafura Games due to to be held next month.
The eight-day games, which attract thousands of athletes from more than 25 countries mostly in the Asia-Pacific region, were called off after a cabinet meeting decided it would have been irresponsible to go ahead.