Basketball superstar LeBron James said he won’t play if his Los Angeles Lakers have to hold games behind closed doors due to the coronavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n
“If I show up to the arena and there ain’t no fans in the crowd, then I ain’t playing. This ain’t Europe,” he said.<\/p>\n
AFP Sport looks at the effects on sport of the coronavirus, which at 2000EAT Saturday had killed 3,556 people while infecting more than 105,000 in 95 countries worldwide.<\/p>\n
– LeBron James said he won’t play if his Los Angeles Lakers have to hold games behind closed doors due to the outbreak.<\/p>\n
The NBA has reportedly told teams to look into strategies on how to play without fans in the arena amid concerns over the spreading virus.<\/p>\n
“Nah. It’s impossible,” James said after the Lakers’ 113-102 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.<\/p>\n
“If I show up to the arena and there ain’t no fans in the crowd, then I ain’t playing. This ain’t Europe.”<\/p>\n
-The spring classic Milan-San Remo, scheduled for March 21, was postponed, having only previously been cancelled three times since the inaugural edition in 1907.<\/p>\n
-The Strade Bianchi, the first big race of the Italian cycling season set for Saturday, was also cancelled along with the Tirreno-Adriatico while teams such as Mitchelton, Ineos and Astana have pulled out of Sunday’s Paris-Nice.<\/p>\n
-The UAE Tour’s last two stages were abandoned with riders and teams subsequently quarantined in their Abu Dhabi hotels. The Gulf state announced eight coronavirus cases linked to the event — four Italians, two Russians, one German and a Colombian.<\/p>\n
TOKYO OLYMPICS<\/strong><\/p>\n -International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said Wednesday that the nightmare scenario of either cancelling or postponing this year’s Tokyo Olympics was not discussed at a key meeting.<\/p>\n “Neither the word cancellation nor postponement was mentioned today during the Executive Board meeting,” Bach told reporters in Lausanne. -In Italy, the hardest-hit European country with 233 deaths from COVID-19, it was announced that all matches will be played behind closed doors until April 3. This week’s Italian Cup semi-finals were postponed to a date to be arranged while a number of Serie A league games were cancelled. Five of those called off last week will now be played behind closed doors on Sunday, including Juventus v Inter Milan.<\/p>\n LEAGUES SUSPENDED<\/strong><\/p>\n -Elsewhere, the start of Japan’s J-League was postponed till mid-March while China suspended all domestic football and shelved indefinitely the top-flight Super League season which was due to kick off on February 22.<\/p>\n -The Swiss league has already suspended all Super League matches until March 23.<\/p>\n -The Valencia v Atalanta Champions League clash on March 10 will be played behind closed doors as will the Europa League tie featuring Inter Milan against Getafe on March 12.<\/p>\n -Fifa and Asia’s football governing bodies are considering postponing upcoming 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers on March 26 and 31.<\/p>\n -Former Danish international Thomas Kahlenberg tested positive for the virus, with 13 members of his former club Brondby’s staff put into quarantine.<\/p>\n -The Six Nations match between Italy and England in Rome on March 14 as well as Saturday’s Ireland v Italy duel in Dublin were cancelled.<\/p>\n -Scotland’s women’s Six Nations match against France was postponed after a Scottish player tested positive for the coronavirus.<\/p>\n -Sevens World Series tournaments in Hong Kong on April 3-5 and Singapore the following weekend have been postponed.<\/p>\n -Nepal’s Everest Premier League, scheduled to begin on March 14, has also been called off. The fourth edition of the Twenty20 league had signed West Indies batting star Chris Gayle.<\/p>\n MOTORSPORT<\/strong><\/p>\n -The Chinese Formula One Grand Prix, which was set for April 19 in Shanghai, was axed as was the March 21 Formula E race slated for Sanya on the Chinese island of Hainan.<\/p>\n -In motorcycling, the season-opening Qatar MotoGP, set for Sunday, and the Thailand MotoGP have also been scratched. The Thai race has, however, been rearranged for October 4.<\/p>\n -Formula E also postponed its Rome E-Prix, which was due to be held on April 4.<\/p>\n -European Tour chiefs postponed the Maybank Championship in Malaysia and the China Open in Shenzhen — both set for April.<\/p>\n -The US LPGA Tour cancelled all three of its lucrative early-season events in Asia with a combined prize purse of more than $5 million.<\/p>\n -This weekend’s Davis Cup qualifiers between Italy and South Korea in Cagliari and Japan against Ecuador in Miki were played behind closed doors.<\/p>\n -The World Indoor Championships, scheduled for Nanjing from March 13-15, was postponed for a year.<\/p>\n MARATHONS SHELVED<\/strong><\/p>\n -World half-marathon championships, due to be held on March 29 in the Polish city of Gdynia, were shelved until October 17.<\/p>\n -The Paris Marathon, scheduled for April 5 with 60,000 registered runners, was postponed until October 18.<\/p>\n -The Barcelona Marathon, which was scheduled for March 15 with 17,000 runners, was postponed until October.<\/p>\n -The World Cup finals, scheduled for Cortina d’Ampezzo between March 16-22, were cancelled.<\/p>\n -The Women’s World Ice Hockey Championships, set for Halifax and Truro in Nova Scotia for March 31 to April 10, were cancelled on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Basketball superstar LeBron James said he won’t play if his Los Angeles Lakers have to hold games behind closed doors due to the coronavirus outbreak. “If I show up to the arena and there ain’t no fans in the crowd, then I ain’t playing. This ain’t Europe,” he said. AFP Sport looks at the effects […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":3921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,9,17],"tags":[2122,2119,2121,2120,2118,272],"class_list":["post-3920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-miscellaneous","category-sport","tag-barcelona-marathon","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-motorsport","tag-paris-marathon","tag-tokyo-olympics"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nThe Olympics take place from July 24-August 9.<\/p>\n