Berlin (dpa) – The health minister of North Rhine Westphalia does not believe Saturday’s Bundesliga match between Borussia Moenchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund should be postponed despite a coronavirus outbreak in the region.
Minister Karl-Josef Laumann said the local health authority does not see any reason to do so, he said Wednesday in Dusseldorf.
It was reported by Kicker magazine on Tuesday that Dortmund would cancel scheduled post-season trips to China and India because of the risk of the virus but football in Germany remains, so far, unaffected.
Gladbach, however, asked those from the particularly impacted region of Heinsberg to voluntarily skip the game.
Ticket holders from the area would be offered a refund and given free attendance at the next European home match of the team, the club said.
Qualification for the basketball 3×3 event at the Tokyo Olympic Games was postponed by governing body FIBA on Wednesday. It should have been held in Bengaluru, India, from March 18-22.
FIBA now face a race against time to reorganize as they say it must be played before another qualifying tournanemt, in Budapest, April 24-26.
Boxing governing body AIBA said they would postpone an extraordinary congress to be held in the Hungarian capital this month until June 20.
Sport has been badly hit by the now global outbreak, with events like the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix in April being postponed while the Italian football league is in chaos following the rescheduling of fixtures.
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