Home Coronavirus: Delhi World Cup postponed, Olympic test event cancelled

    Coronavirus: Delhi World Cup postponed, Olympic test event cancelled

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    The upcoming ISSF World Cup in New Delhi was on Friday postponed to May, while the Olympic test event in Tokyo stood cancelled due to the global novel Coronavirus outbreak.

    The World Cup in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events was to be held from March 15 to 25 while the Olympic test event was scheduled to be held from April 16 to 25.

    The World Cup will now be held in two parts before the Olympic Games.

    “It is proposed to divide the Delhi World Cup in two parts and hold Rifle and Pistol competitions on May 5-12, 2020 while Shotgun competitions – on June 2-9, 2020,ÔÇØ the ISSF said in a statement.

    The decision was taken after the tournament organizers NRAI approached the ISSF with a proposal to postpone the event.

    The development comes after the government imposed several restrictions on the entry of travelers from affected countries such as China, Italy, South Korea, Japan and Iran, in a bid to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

    Considering the extraordinary situation, the ISSF has also requested the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to prolong the internal Olympic qualification period in order to ensure all shooters get equal chances of making it to the Games.

    In case of the IOC approval, the World Cups in Munich and Baku can also influence the outcome of the Olympic Qualification,ÔÇØ the ISSF said.

    It must be noted that all Qualification Quota places, as planned, will be allocated by May 31, 2020. There will be only 12 unallocated Quota Places according to the World Ranking and a small number of unused Quota Places due for reallocation,ÔÇØ the sport apex body added.

    The Indian government list of guidelines states that the visa of all foreign nationals, who have visited the affected countries in the year 2020 and have not yet landed in India, will be cancelled.

    The Delhi event was to be a combined World Cup for rifle/pistol and shotgun shooters.

    In the wake of the Coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year, many sporting events across the world have been either cancelled or postponed in recent weeks.

    Last week, India pulled out of the ISSF World Cup in Cyprus, citing the coronavirus threat.

    The outbreak has so far claimed more than 3000 lives and infected close to 100,000 people across the world.

    The ISSF on Wednesday had announced that the World Cup in Delhi wonÔÇÖt carry ranking points because athletes from all countries cannot participate following the health advisory issued by the Indian government.