The International Shooting Sport federation announced on Wednesday that the World Cup in Delhi won’t carry ranking points because athletes from all countries cannot participate due to the threat of coronavirus.
India’s Ministry of Health has imposed several restrictions on the entry of travellers from affected countries such as China, Italy, South Korea, Japan and Iran, in a bid to contain the coronavirus outbreak. The list of guidelines issued also states that the visa of all foreign nationals who have visited the following countries in the year 2020 and have not yet landed in India will be cancelled.
“...the organisers cannot guarantee the participation of all the athletes who would like to enter those competitions. Therefore no ranking points can be earned at this World Cup. Still, it will be possible to achieve the MQS that can influence on athletes’ chances to get the desired Olympic Quota Places,” said the ISSF in a statement.
Earlier, countries including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Bahrain had backed out of the World Cup because of national policies on travel. China is the epicentre of the disease while South Korea, Italy and Iran have the next most confirmed cases of infection.
Also Read: List of sporting events that have been affected by the outbreak coronavirus
This is the latest in sporting events being affected by the disease. The coronavirus outbreak has spread across 80 countries and has affected many sporting events world over with the Tokyo Olympics organisers even hinting at the possibility of postponing the quadrennial Games till the end of the year if situation does not improve.
As of now, there are a total of 28 affected cases in India.